ID :
192730
Mon, 07/04/2011 - 12:15
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/192730
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Chief prosecutor offers to resign over 'unfavorable' law revision
(ATTN: UPDATES with Lee's remarks in paras 8-11, CHANGES dateline to SEOUL/DURBAN)
SEOUL/DURBAN, South Africa, July 4 (Yonhap) -- The chief prosecutor offered to step down on Monday in protest over the recent parliamentary approval of a bill limiting the prosecution's investigatory power.
The prosecution and police initially reached a compromise under government mediation to end a dispute over investigative rights, agreeing to empower police to open investigations on their own under the broad supervision of prosecutors.
But lawmakers on June 30 passed a revision of the criminal procedural law that diverged from the agreement, paving the way for police to open investigations on their own while weakening prosecutors' previously tight grip on police probes.
"Once a promise is made, it should be executed. Someone should take responsibility for a promise that falls apart or fails to be executed," Prosecutor-General Kim Joon-gyu said in a press conference, referring to failed efforts to keep the prosecution's power.
The new law shifted decisions over the scope of prosecutor oversight on police investigations to a presidential decree from the current justice ministerial decree required, which prosecutors say will intensify police independence from the prosecution.
The revision, seen by prosecutors as severely unfavorable, resulted in pressure on the chief prosecutor to resign for the big loss to his agency.
Until a new chief prosecutor is named, Park Yong-seok, the assistant prosecutor general, will act in Kim's place, according to the prosecution. Kim's three-year term was to end in August this year.
Last week, President Lee Myung-bak told Kim to serve out his term and urged angry prosecutors to act in a more "mature" way as five senior prosecutors offered to quit en masse in protest of the revision. Still, Kim went ahead and made the resignation offer.
Lee was nonchalant after learning of Kim's resignation, presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha said. Lee has been in Durban, South Africa, since Saturday to campaign for the South Korean alpine city of PyeongChang's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
"The president did not show any reaction, and there was no change in his facial expression," the spokesman told reporters.
Lee is expected to decide whether to accept the resignation offer after returning home next week, the spokesman said.
Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik expressed regret over the top prosecutor's resignation.
"It is wrong for him as a public official to offer his resignation at a time when President Lee Myung-bak is traveling abroad in his effort to support PyeongChang's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics," Kim said through his spokesman Yoo Seong-sik.
pbr@yna.co.kr
jschang@yna.co.kr
SEOUL/DURBAN, South Africa, July 4 (Yonhap) -- The chief prosecutor offered to step down on Monday in protest over the recent parliamentary approval of a bill limiting the prosecution's investigatory power.
The prosecution and police initially reached a compromise under government mediation to end a dispute over investigative rights, agreeing to empower police to open investigations on their own under the broad supervision of prosecutors.
But lawmakers on June 30 passed a revision of the criminal procedural law that diverged from the agreement, paving the way for police to open investigations on their own while weakening prosecutors' previously tight grip on police probes.
"Once a promise is made, it should be executed. Someone should take responsibility for a promise that falls apart or fails to be executed," Prosecutor-General Kim Joon-gyu said in a press conference, referring to failed efforts to keep the prosecution's power.
The new law shifted decisions over the scope of prosecutor oversight on police investigations to a presidential decree from the current justice ministerial decree required, which prosecutors say will intensify police independence from the prosecution.
The revision, seen by prosecutors as severely unfavorable, resulted in pressure on the chief prosecutor to resign for the big loss to his agency.
Until a new chief prosecutor is named, Park Yong-seok, the assistant prosecutor general, will act in Kim's place, according to the prosecution. Kim's three-year term was to end in August this year.
Last week, President Lee Myung-bak told Kim to serve out his term and urged angry prosecutors to act in a more "mature" way as five senior prosecutors offered to quit en masse in protest of the revision. Still, Kim went ahead and made the resignation offer.
Lee was nonchalant after learning of Kim's resignation, presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha said. Lee has been in Durban, South Africa, since Saturday to campaign for the South Korean alpine city of PyeongChang's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
"The president did not show any reaction, and there was no change in his facial expression," the spokesman told reporters.
Lee is expected to decide whether to accept the resignation offer after returning home next week, the spokesman said.
Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik expressed regret over the top prosecutor's resignation.
"It is wrong for him as a public official to offer his resignation at a time when President Lee Myung-bak is traveling abroad in his effort to support PyeongChang's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics," Kim said through his spokesman Yoo Seong-sik.
pbr@yna.co.kr
jschang@yna.co.kr
