Strong opposition to internal “political riots”
Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo submitted a resignation letter to the Ministry of Justice on the 22nd in protest once morest the opposition’s acceptance of the arbitration proposal for National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok’s ‘completely deprived of the prosecution’s investigation authority’. The unprecedented collective resignation of the prosecutor’s office became a reality as six high prosecutors across the country and the deputy chief prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office expressed their resignation at once.
On that day, right following the opposition parties announced their acceptance of the mediation proposal, President Kim made a brief statement and left the office stating, “I will take responsibility for all these circumstances and submit my resignation letter.” President Moon Jae-in resigned once more four days following the rejection.
The ‘line-off’ of high-ranking prosecutors across the country continued. The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office announced on the same day, “The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office Deputy Prosecutor Park Seong-jin, Seoul High Prosecutor’s Office Lee Seong-yun, Seoul High Prosecutor’s Office Chief Kim Gwan-jeong, Daejeon High Prosecutor’s Office Chief Yeo Hwan-seop, Daegu High Prosecutor’s Office Chief Prosecutor Kwon Soon-beom, Busan High Prosecutor’s Office Cho Jae-yeon, and Gwangju High Prosecutor’s Office Jo Jung-tae submitted their resignations to the Ministry of Justice.” It is the first time in the history of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office that all six prosecutors and the chief prosecutor resigned. The possibility of further resignation of prosecutors, including the chief of the prosecutor’s office, is also being discussed.
The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office held an emergency meeting of the chief prosecutor immediately following the ruling and opposition parties announced acceptance of the mediation proposal and said, “We firmly oppose the mediation proposal. It is only a temporary postponement of the implementation period of the existing Inspection and Waiver Act.” Inside the prosecution, sharp reactions were pouring in, such as “a riot of politics” and “the fact that public officials and election crimes were excluded from the investigation was without a single conscience.”
By Bae Seok-jun, staff reporter [email protected]
Correspondent Kodoye [email protected]