By Lee Hyo-sik
Lawmakers are seeking to prevent prosecutors from working at the Ministry of Justice as part of their drive to reform the prosecution, a move that will further intensify the ongoing confrontation with prosecutors.
The move came after the National Assembly decided to abolish the Central Investigation Department (CID) at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office last week.
The special parliamentary committee on judicial reform said Wednesday it held a meeting to discuss a range of pending issues related to a revision bill governing the prosecutors’ office.
They included banning prosecutors from being dispatched to the ministry and establishing a committee consisting of civilians to check the prosecution’s exclusive rights to indict.
Legislators are considering disallowing prosecutors to work at the ministry, arguing they have taken up a number of key ministry posts and thus put it under the influence of the prosecution. Instead, civil servants would be assigned to the posts.
The measure has been proposed by Rep. Park Young-sun of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP).
“Both ruling and opposition parties agreed to discuss such a step last year. I think this is something that the committee should deal with in-depth,” one committee member said.
But another member, a former prosecutor, expressed a negative view toward making the ministry “prosecutor-free,” saying it would compromise its position as the control tower of the nation’s law enforcement authorities.
On a related note, DP Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu pledged Wednesday to implement a series of measures proposed to reform the prosecution.
In a radio address, he said his party will scrap the CID, accusing prosecutors of conducting politically-oriented probes into those disapproving of the Lee Myung-bak administration.
“We will work hard to set up an independent investigation unit to probe wrongdoings by judges and give more power to the police,” Sohn said.
The chairman stressed the discussion on judicial reform should be left to the National Assembly.
But the prosecution protested the lawmakers’ decision to abolish the CID, which looked into major corruption cases involving politicians and senior government officials over the years.
Prosecutors said a special investigation team is vital to high-profile cases vulnerable to outside pressure and that the decision amounts to “disarming” prosecutors.
The controversy comes at a time when the CID has been targeting legislators in both the ruling Grand National Party and opposition parties to question them over allegedly receiving bribes from troubled savings bank executives in exchange for helping them avoid state audits.