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When the Ministry of Justice took disciplinary complaints against Attorney General Yoon Seok-yeol and exclusion from his duties, the opposition party insisted that President Moon Jae-in should reveal his position.
It is only a ‘technical’ issue in which the prosecution and discipline commission is carried out under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, and there are opinions that the president also defends, but it is not uncomfortable to ask the president for a position because the exclusion of the Attorney General’s role is unprecedented. In particular, given that clashes between the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution have dragged on since the days of former Justice Minister Cho Kook, there are opinions that demand personnel measures from the president.
However, President Moon shows no intention. This can be interpreted as a judgment derived from the experience of viewing the past prosecution reform process while serving as a senior official in the Roh Moo-hyun administration.
In March 2004, the second year of the participatory government mandate, the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun took place, and the ruling party (Open Uri Party) won a majority seat in the April general elections, giving power to the government and the ruling party. At that time, the government raised the separation of investigative and prosecution powers and the establishment of a criminal investigation office for senior public officials (currently a criminal investigation office for senior civil servants) as key institutional tasks for the reform of the prosecution service. . The abolition was promoted together. It was in the same context as the prosecution reform promoted by the Moon Jae-in administration.
June 2004 was a time when the conflict between the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor’s Office spread over the newspaper. When the government came up with the abolition of the Great Swordsman’s Central Department, Attorney General Song Kwang-soo at the time rebelled and said, “Better hit my neck.” It was a time when the powers of prosecution and opposition were highly motivated by the question of abolishing the Great Swordsman’s Division and the like is a measure to subtract the power of the prosecution.
On June 16, Justice Minister Kang Geum-sil was scheduled to announce a position on the abolition of the investigation function of Heavy Industries. On the 15th, the day before, President Roh told the rebellious President Song, “the people will surely be anxious.” He chided. President Roh said: “The attorney general’s mandate is for the independence of the investigative power, not to exercise the right to speak in government policy.”
Later, President Song submitted his resignation. The Blue House said, “Who told me to get out?” And “(The president) was criticized in principle, but couldn’t he even talk about it?” Of course, President Roh said to Minister Kang: “I urge that the reform of the prosecution be carried out without trembling.” According to media reports at the time, this incident increased the anti-government sentiment of prosecutors within the prosecution, especially in the grand indictment.
When President Roh stepped forward, the issue of conflict was replaced by the Blue House and the prosecution instead of the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution. As the Blue House directly criticized the prosecution, the political burden on the president, who spoke of the political neutrality of the prosecution and the independence of the investigation, began to increase. President Moon Jae-in served as President Roh’s attorney at the beginning of the participatory government and at the time of impeachment, and observed him while he was in the Blue House at the time of the controversy.
Roh Moo-hyun, a politician who has been preparing for prosecutorial reform since his candidate’s time, took an unprecedented step in a dialogue with the prosecution in 2003, at the beginning of his term. At that time, the ruling party was weak and the opposition from the prosecution was greater than it is now, so it can be said that the president acted as the vanguard of the tax reform. The headwind of impeachment rallied the president’s supporters, and the Uri Party in the Uri Party received an unusual majority of seats, increasing the government and ruling party. However, paradoxically after the president’s statements on the “discussion of state discipline”, the reform of the prosecution was lost.
Minister Kang Geum-sil finally did not properly promote the Karate Card, and immediately after this incident, the rumor of Minister Kang’s replacement came out inside the passport. According to the report of the time, it was analyzed that “whenever the conflict arose, fire splashed the Blue House, and it is pointed out that Minister Kang, who has to control the organization of the prosecution, does not have control of the organization” . Minister Kang was replaced in late July, a month later.
The same is true of the recent situation. The moment President Moon comments on Yoon, the confrontational structure has no choice but to change from ‘Ministry of Justice vs. Prosecutors ‘a’ Cheongwadae vs. Prosecutors’. Chosun Ilbo said on the 25th that Minister Chu removed General Yoon from office and said it was an interpretation of the legal community that “they did not suggest the removal of President Yoon” to President Moon. They have taken steps to achieve the same effect. ”
This is the reason why President Yoon insisted that ‘President Moon asked him to fulfill his term’ during the state administration audit of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, or did not comment even if Chu suspended Yun’s duties. When President Moon, who had been silent during the ‘crisis of the motherland’, said at a New Years press conference earlier this year the following year, he was criticized when he said he owed his heart to former Minister Cho .
The reform of the participatory government prosecutor’s office is evaluated as having failed. There are many reasons for failure, but looking at the situation at the time in 2004, the president directly empowered the Ministry of Justice and tried to bring the prosecution. At that time, Ahn Dae-hee, a close friend of Song, used the government sword to investigate illegal presidential funding, and the prosecution reform morphed into a war between the Blue House and the prosecution, regardless of the good will of politician Roh Moo-hyun.
In his book ‘Fate’, President Moon recalled: “Because President Roh, who tried to ensure political neutrality and independence without taking control of the prosecution, was investigated for political purposes by the prosecution, I wonder if there’s something else like this in the world. ” . In another book, “Thinking about the prosecution,” he said, “I thought that the democratization of the prosecution would continue on its own if the attempt to take over the prosecution was abandoned.”
Since previous governments have taken control of the prosecution and other agencies, the participatory government refrained from taking control of the prosecution. At the same time, it is an expression that implies that the reform of the prosecution will not be successful just because the government does not take over the prosecution.
Currently, the opposition party emphasizes that the central task of the prosecution reform is “the investigation of the living power”, that is, the independence of the prosecution. Consequently, the opposition party and some media are asking the president for his position. Even within the passport, there are concerns about Minister Chu’s actions, but President Moon is more likely to focus on correcting bad habits or anti-human rights attitudes of the prosecution by actively exercising the rights of prosecution staff rather than guarantee the political independence of the prosecution immediately.
From the perspective of the Blue House, the objective conditions are better than those of participatory government. The experience of failure in the age of participatory government can be used as a teacher, and the seats and firepower of the ruling party are even stronger than then. Minister Chu is also in various criticisms and controversies, but he feels more comfortable than that of former Minister Cho. This is why President Moon spares his words to reform the impeachment.
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