During the first year of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s election, prosecutors have taken their places in key positions such as power institutions and the financial world, becoming a ‘prosecutor’s regime’. The photo shows the Taegeukgi and the prosecution flag reflected on the glass wall at the entrance of the Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 8th. Reporter Shin So-young [email protected]
One year since Yoon Seok-yeol’s election as president. ‘Prosecution’ has become the backbone of President Yoon’s governing style and a key word in explaining how South Korea’s state affairs operate. Personnel from the prosecution were placed in key positions throughout state affairs, including power and judicial agencies, and the “prosecution culture” of top-down service instead of mediation and compromise quickly spread. President Yoon’s moderate selection of prosecutors was unstoppable, like the slogan of the presidential election, “Okay, go quickly.” Within a week of his inauguration, he appointed Han Dong-hun, then vice president of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, as the Minister of Justice. The opposition party protested, saying that the compromise had been abandoned, but President Yoon did not care. In the presidential office, starting with the appointment of former prosecutor Lee Si-won, who was suspended for a month for his involvement in the ‘Seoul City Public Officials Espionage Manipulation Case’, as the secretary for public service discipline, personnel planning officer Bok Doo-gyu, personnel secretary Lee Won-mo, and legal secretary Joo Jin-woo, who were former prosecutors’ aides. Filled. Prosecutors were also appointed to key positions in the government. Financial Supervisory Service Director Lee Bok-hyeon, Legislation Minister Lee Wan-kyu, Prime Minister’s Secretary Park Seong-geun, Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission vice-chairman Jeong Seung-yoon, and his son’s school violence, lawyer Jeong Sun-shin, who dropped out of the National Investigation Headquarters, are all former prosecutors. A person from the people’s power said, “President Yoon seemed to want to leave key positions to former prosecutors if he could.” The prosecution, which had been subject to ‘separation of powers’ in the previous government, raised its authority again and came to the fore as a key institution in President Yoon’s reign. Minister Han Dong-hoon expanded the scope of direct investigation by the prosecution, which was limited to corruption and economic crimes, to abuse of power and taxation through the revision of the enforcement ordinance last year with the legislation to adjust the investigative powers of the prosecution service. He revised the investigation rules and expanded the scope of requests for re-investigation to increase the authority to intervene in police investigations. The de-prosecution of the Ministry of Justice also went back to the past, and former prosecutors were appointed to key positions such as Kim Seok-woo, head of the legal department. Prosecutors carried out extensive investigations of the Moon Jae-in government under the pretext of △the murder of a public official in the West Sea △the repatriation of North Korean fishermen to North Korea △the blacklist case of the Ministry of Environment, etc. charged However, in the investigation of the ‘Daejang-dong 5 billion club’ involving former special prosecutor Park Young-soo, even Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of People’s Power, is passive enough to urge a thorough investigation. The increased number of prosecutors’ personnel has spread throughout state affairs as a ‘prosecution culture’ such as ‘top and bottom’ and ‘irresponsible’. In the financial sector, it led to controversy over government administration. Lee Bok-hyeon, head of the Financial Supervisory Service, took an active step when President Yoon ordered to seek ways to promote competition in the banking sector, saying, “Review measures to promote competition in the banking sector” at a meeting of FSS executives. However, many point out that this move has gone beyond the scope of the FSS’s original duties of inspecting and supervising financial institutions. The government’s labor policy is driven by the inertia of imposing strict legal standards only on unions. President Yoon called some powerful labor unions ‘cartels with vested interests’ and defined violence at construction sites as ‘gun violence’ and emphasized strictness. Rather than improving the structure that gave rise to distorted practices, it is to direct the prosecution-style solution of ‘investigation and punishment’. This vertical prosecution style of President Yoon, who had no political experience, also appeared in relationships with the ruling and opposition parties. The appearance of President Yoon and the presidential office trying to reign over the ruling party appeared due to controversy over the expulsion of former CEO Lee Jun-seok or intervention in party affairs in the process of the 3/8 National Convention. A People’s Power official said, “The sentiment that it is too much to do is equivalent to the party.” The relationship between the public and the opposition is also a function of the perspective of ‘prosecutor vs. criminal’. President Yoon did not have a single formal meeting with Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myeong after the election. For ten months, the compromise between the ruling and opposition parties was lost, and extreme confrontation continued: the proposal to dismiss Foreign Minister Park Jin, President Yoon’s refusal to accept, and the impeachment of Minister of Public Administration and Security Lee Sang-min. Key officials from the presidential office and the ruling party say, “There is a strong perception of why President Yoon is meeting with an offender (CEO Lee).” There are concerns that the president’s prosecution-centered governance and the prosecution-style mindset increase conflict rather than solving problems. People’s Power Rep. Han Jung-jin said, “Since the aides run state affairs, will it be a check?” He said, “What is more concerning is that if there is a problem, we will investigate and seize and search to solve it. “Don’t you try to subdue lawmakers who oppose you right away?” he said. “Politics is a problem that cannot be solved like an investigation.” Jeong Byung-ki, a professor of political science and diplomacy at Yeungnam University, said in a phone call, “We operate the government in the same way as the prosecution. “Isn’t the nature of the prosecution’s organization a top priority?” he said. “President Yoon’s politics is not party politics, but prosecution politics.” Reporter Seo Young-ji [email protected]
