"Agreement from Presidential Judicial Reform Commission Cannot Be Accepted"

Regarding a revised bill on Criminal Procedure Law agreed to by the chairman of the Presidential Commission on Judicial Reform (PCJR) and the minister of Justice, rank-and-file prosecutors from the Seoul Central Public Prosecutor’s Office expressed on May 4, “We can’t accept the agreement drawn by them,” adding, “We will push for a meeting to be attended by rank-and-file prosecutors from all over the country as prearranged.”

In response, the conflict between the prosecution and the PCJR, which seemed be put down by a dramatic accord reached last night, is likely to appear again. Since this move results in rank-and-file prosecutors’ direct backlash against the ministry of Justice despite their remarks that “They would agree with the ministry of Justice,” the inner conflict seems likely to deepen among the ministry of Justice, the prosecution leadership, and prosecutors.

On the afternoon of that day, after holding a meeting attended by 23 senior prosecutors in a conference room on the ninth floor of the Seoul Central Public Prosecutor’s Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, those who are entrusted by rank-and-file prosecutors, issued a statement.

In the statement, rank-and-file prosecutors said, “As the agreement on a revision of the Criminal Procedure Law on May 3 between chairman of the PCJR and minister of Justice is nothing but a compromise without participation from the public, it has some problems in reaching the accord. Accordingly, it is difficult for us to follow the result.”

They also criticized the minister of Justice and the prosecution leadership by saying, “A revision of the important system which will be able to exert a direct influence upon the public has been completed by a behind-the-scenes compromise between a handful of interested parties.”

Prosecutor Koo Tae-eon (who passed the 34th national bar exam) from the state-of-the-art crimes investigation department of the Seoul Central Public Prosecutor’s Office read the statement, noting that “The prosecution is posing a basic and procedural problem in regards to a arranged schedule of the revised bill on the Criminal Procedure Law drawn by the PCJR that has been currently progressed.” He added, “The prosecution is planning to come up with a number of countermeasures such as holding nationwide rank-and-file prosecutors’ meetings so that the right reform of criminal and judicial systems should be achieved with planning national agreement procedures through people’s participation.”

He further said, “We are collecting opinions of rank-and-file prosecutors from approximately 40 District Public Prosecutor’s Offices and their subsidiary offices around the country,” adding, “It was not decided on whether a nationwide rank-and-file prosecutors’ meeting will be held before May 9, when PCJR’s working-level meeting (vice-ministerial level) is scheduled to be held.”

Keuk-In Bae bae2150@donga.com