Park Chul-woo, head of the Seoul Central District Public Prosecution Office, said on the 19th that he has never considered withdrawing the indictment against President Lee Jae-myung.
Park gave the answer when Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party asked whether such a review had taken place, during a National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee audit of the Seoul and Suwon metropolitan public prosecution offices and other agencies in the capital region.
Park also made clear that he had exchanged no opinions and submitted no materials to the Ministry of Justice or the headquarters of the public prosecution service regarding a withdrawal of charges.
When Yoon suggested that a fact-finding team under the Justice Ministry, which is examining whether investigations and indictments in major cases were conducted unlawfully, was being used to pressure officials into dropping charges, Park distanced himself from the effort. "The prosecutors dispatched to the fact-finding team have been appointed as acting prosecutors of the Seoul Central District Public Prosecution Office, but I am not involved in that work," he said. Asked about Acting Justice Minister Lee Jin-soo's statement that he would not order the withdrawal of charges during his tenure, Park added, "As a matter of principle, I cannot say what will be done about any specific or individual case."
Park also voiced frustration over the current situation, in which the prosecution service has been renamed the public prosecution service and stripped entirely of its investigative powers. Asked by Rep. Kwak Kyu-taek of the People Power Party for his reflections on the first parliamentary audit since investigative capacity was separated from the agency, Park said, "I cannot help feeling troubled." He added, "It is deeply saddening that not only the work of rooting out grave wrongdoing but even the function of supplementary investigation of police cases has disappeared, and that the name itself has become the public prosecution office."
The audit also saw clashes between the rival parties over the so-called "salmon drinking party" allegations raised during the investigation into Ssangbangwool's cash transfers to North Korea, as well as over the fact-finding inquiry into the prosecutor who handled the case.
Kim Bong-hyun, head of the Suwon District Public Prosecution Office, said of whether the investigation and indictment in the North Korea remittance case involved illegality: "I understand that a recording aimed at coaxing testimony did emerge." He said a phone conversation between prosecutor Park Sang-yong and attorney Seo Min-seok had been inappropriate. On the substance of the "salmon drinking party" claims, he said, "It was confirmed that food was brought in from outside, and there were some indications that alcohol was brought in as well." He declined, however, to discuss how he would respond if a withdrawal of charges were requested on those grounds, or whether Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province for peace affairs, had in fact been coaxed, citing the ongoing trial.
The People Power Party sharply criticized what it called sweeping pressure from the ruling bloc on investigative agencies, using the fact-finding team and other measures, describing it as an attempt to destabilize law enforcement.
Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party noted that Jung Yong-hwan, acting head of the Seoul Metropolitan Public Prosecution Office, had looked into the salmon drinking party allegations while serving as head of the inspection division at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, and accused him of caving to power and framing the prosecutor who handled the case. Citing the perjury conviction handed to the former vice governor at the first trial, Joo pressed him on whether victims and perpetrators could likewise be swapped in cases involving ordinary citizens. Jung replied, "The inquiry was conducted in accordance with the law and principle."
Rep. Kim Tae-gyu of the People Power Party denounced the abolition of the prosecution service and the launch of the public prosecution service as the product of a "bitter vengeance" the ruling bloc has harbored since the death of former President Roh Moo-hyun. Rep. Kim Min-jeon cited overseas examples such as the special investigation division of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office and said, "At the slightest sign of an opening, they try to wipe out the very existence of those fighting grave wrongdoing."
The Democratic Party of Korea and others in the ruling bloc took aim at investigations involving former first lady Kim Keon-hee and former Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, counterattacking over past abuses of prosecutorial power.
Rep. Kim Ki-pyo of the Democratic Party pointed out that the interrogation record from Kim Keon-hee's questioning omitted the name of the examining official, and that there were indications an investigation report had been altered after the fact to fit a decision not to indict. He called it a textbook case of "imperial questioning" that favored the powerful, and said investigation and indictment had been separated precisely because prosecutors had previously abused their direct investigative and charging powers.
Rep. Park Kyoun-taek of the Democratic Party raised the case of falsified credentials involving the daughter of former minister Han Dong-hoon, which he said had been quashed at the stage of a request for international judicial cooperation, citing the explanation offered at the time that it was a "99-cent case." He urged that warrant requests be handled thoroughly should investigative agencies launch a full inquiry in the future.
Rep. Son Sol of the Progressive Party pointed out that prosecutor Park Sang-yong, who is suspended from duty and facing disciplinary proceedings, has repeatedly appeared on conservative YouTube channels such as Myeolgong TV to comment on political issues. She said he was behaving like a politicized prosecutor by attending events led by a particular party, and demanded stern additional disciplinary action.