Cheong Wa Dae, prosecution have head-on collision
Flags of the Republic of Korea and the Prosecution Service wave at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
By Jung Da-min
Tensions between Cheong Wa Dae and the prosecution are escalating without any sign of compromise, as each side passes the bucks over issues such as the prosecution's investigation into corruption scandals involving presidential aides and the justice ministry's reassignment of senior prosecutors.
The head-on clash reached a peak Sunday when Cheong Wa Dae blasted the prosecution for trying to “illegally” search one of the presidential office's divisions ― prosecutors refuted this, stating they were following due process.
On Friday, investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office visited Cheong Wa Dae to seize material related to allegations that the presidential office meddled in the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election to help then-ruling party candidate Song Cheol-ho, a close aide to President Moon Jae-in, win.
As Cheong Wa Dae is a national security facility, investigators are not allowed to go into the compound and conduct search operations directly. Instead, Cheong Wa Dae staff used to hand over specific material that the prosecutors asked for.
This time, however, the presidential office refused to hand over material and prosecutors had to return empty-handed after an eight-hour confrontation.
Cheong Wa Dae called the raid an “illegal act,” saying the warrant brought by the prosecution did not specify the material to seize.
“When they came for the search operation, the prosecution did not submit a detailed list of the material it want to seize,” a senior presidential official said Sunday. “They submitted a list hours later. But the list was one drawn up by the prosecution arbitrarily, and not approved by the court.”
The official said, “We were unable to cooperate in an illegal investigation. We hope the prosecution will follow legal procedures in the future.”
This comment immediately brought about a refutation from prosecutors.
“The court issued the search warrant with the allegations, the location to search and the material to seize being specified,” they said in a message to reporters. “The prosecution conducted the search operation abiding by legal procedures.”
They added that Cheong Wa Dae staff did not respond clearly on whether they would allow the search or submit the material requested, so investigators later gave them a new list minimizing the amount of material.
The prosecution even compared President Moon's Cheong Wa Dae with the former President Park Geun-hye's office, saying it attempted to conduct the search in the same manner as it did in October 2016 during the corruption scandal involving the ex-President and her staff.
The search attempt came two days after newly appointed Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae reassigned senior prosecutors, which also raised controversy as she did not consult with Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl when replacing his close assistants. They included prosecutors leading the investigations into the Ulsan election meddling and other corruption scandals involving President Moon's aides.
Choo's office said she waited for Yoon before announcing the reassignments but he did not show up. In a National Assembly session, Choo stated, “Yoon disobeyed my order.”
The controversy raised by Choo's move is over whether it was necessary for the reform of the prosecution or performed to keep the prosecution from investigating the presidential office.
Public opinion is divided over the matter.
According to a poll conducted by Realmeter of 502 adults aged over 19, Friday, 47 percent said they supported Choo, while 44.7 percent said the reassignments were unnecessary.
A petition was posted on the presidential office's website, calling for the three special investigation teams to be allowed to continue their probes. One team of prosecutors is looking into the election meddling allegation; another is investigating former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's suspected role in ending an inspection into bribery allegations involving a former Busan vice mayor; and the other is probing Cheong Wa Dae's alleged influence in a private hospital getting a loan.
The petition garnered over 140,000 signatures in less than a week, and is soon expected to reach the 200,000 threshold that requires an official response from Cheong Wa Dae.