It's only been recently that any decent article has appeared in the English language media about the concentration of power in the Public Prosecutors Office which readily enables political abuse and corruption. This article in the Hankyoreh opinion section does a nice job of describing the problem:
[Guest essay] S. Korea’s last chance to prevent a “republic of prosecutors”
Posted on : Apr.20,2022 17:52 KST Modified on : Apr.20,2022 17:52 KST by by Suh Bo-hack, professor at Kyung Hee University Law School,
The Democratic Party must quickly pass legislation that will separate the prosecutors’ powers of investigation and indictment
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/1039742.html
The "republic of prosecutors" presents an even greater threat with Yoon Suk-yeol taking office as South Korea's new president on May 10. South Korea will remain a republic in name only. "Republic of prosecutors" is a euphemism for dictatorship enforced by prosecutors.
Yoon Suk-yeol, the former Prosecutor General, has nominated his former right hand man and political fixer, Han Dong-hun, for Minister of Justice. Their conservative backers in the so called People's Power Party in the National Assembly are attempting to stonewall any reform of the criminal justice system. Once Yoon takes office it is unlikely that substantive prosecutorial reforms will become law.
Yesterday, the PPP repudiated the compromise proposal reached in the National Assembly on prosecution reform measures. The negotiations were apparently just a stalling tactic.
An agreement had already been signed by the two major party floor leaders in the National Assembly, Park Hang-Geun, for the democratic party, and Kwan Seon-dong, for the conservative People's Power Party. The compromise measure was mediated by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Park Byung-seok. Amazingly, President-elect Yoon's transition committee released an initial statement saying it respected the mediated proposal. The compromise had been approved by both parties in separate party assembly member meetings. When Yoon Suk-yeol and Hang Dong-hun got wind of it, it was immediately repudiated. PPP party leader Lee Jun-seok said that the PPP minority party won't accept a "legislative monopoly in the legislature." What does that mean? One democratic assembly member referred to the events as a "preview of the dictatorship of prosecutors."
So the compromise proposal was agreed to on Friday and repudiated by the PPP executive committee over the weekend at the direction of Yoon, probably through Han Dong-hun, who is the current Yoon nominee for Justice Minister. There is a report that Yoon directly contacted PPP floor leader, Kwan Seon-dong, instructing him to withdraw his party's support for the compromise reform proposal that he had just signed on behalf of his party's national assembly representatives. Han is now known as the "little president," pejoratively meaning the real president or power behind the throne, who will displace the prime minister, the presidential chief of civil affairs, and the prosecutor general, because of his special personal relationship with Yoon. The PPP members in the legislative assembly are now known as "yes men." It remains to be seen whether Han and a number of other Yoon cabinet appointments will get through their confirmation hearings unscathed with the ethical and financial irregularities alleged in independent media.
(Source MBCNEWS youtube 5.25)
2.12M subscribers
0:00 여야 중재안 합의..검찰, 부패·경제범죄 외 직접수사 불가 (2022.04.22_뉴스데스크_MBC)
02:41 '검수완박' 합의 뒤집어..사흘만에 '파기' (2022.04.25_뉴스데스크_MBC)
05:12 민주당, 법사위 단독 소집 "이번주 처리" (2022.04.25_뉴스데스크_MBC)
07:58 국민의힘, 돌연 왜? (2022.04.25_뉴스데스크_MBC)
한동훈 전화에 합의 파기? 국민의힘 뒤집은 '검찰의힘'[뉴스.zip/MBC뉴스]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns1V6-zU8jg
No comments:
Post a Comment