Justice Minister Softens Stance on Reshuffle

With Justice Minister Kang Kum Sil’s proposal of re-negotiating her personnel reshuffling plan on March 7, there are signs that Cheong Wa Dae and the prosecution are softening their stance on the minister’s plan which almost led to a clash between the two. However, as the Justice Ministry and the prosecution are firmly maintaining their basic principles, the fuss over the ministry’s personnel reshuffling is likely to enter into a new and unexpected phase.

Kook Min Soo, an official at the public information office in the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, unveiled in the form of a proposal the outcome of chief and senior prosecutors’ meeting at a press conference. “Participants at the meeting shared their views that although the prosecution is concerned with the loss of public trust and maintaining political neutrality, transparency should be guaranteed in the personnel reshuffling,” Kim said.

Forty chief and senior prosecutors in the Seoul district public prosecutor’s office held a meeting on Friday and made a clear statement, saying, “Prosecutors in the Seoul district prosecutor’s office shared views that a fair and transparent personnel reshuffling should be carried out to maintain the political neutrality of the prosecution and shall be commensurate with the status of the prosecution as a quasi-judicial authority. Those prosecutors in the Seoul district prosecutor’s office are planning to deliver their opinions to Prosecutor General Kim Kak Young and Justice Minister Kang Kum Sil through the head of the Seoul district prosecutor’s office.

Prosecutors at the supreme public prosecutor’s office and the Seoul district public prosecutor’s office used a more moderate form and wording of their proposals to deliver their opinions than what was previously expected. Prosecutors had been previously expected to resign or gather signatures for a petition in protest.

Meanwhile, the justice minister on March 7 backed down from her firm position on a radical personnel reshuffling of the prosecution by saying, “I will meet with Prosecutor General Kim in the afternoon of March 8 to review and fine-tune the reshuffling plan decided on March 6. The final proposal will be released by March 10.” Earlier in the day, the justice minister had made it clear that she would carry out a reshuffling of senior prosecutor officials as planned.

Cheong Wa Dae, for its part, also showed a softened stance in which it had said it would punish prosecutors if they defy the radical plan by saying, “The government doesn’t think the current situation will evolve to the point where punishment is needed for those prosecutors who express their opposition.”

Earlier on the same day, President Roh Moo Hyun said that he would divvy out punishment for those who rebel against the reshuffle. “If the prosecution’s collective action constitutes criminal punishment, I will punish those responsible,” the President stated.

The President hinted at a meeting with senior presidential secretaries and aides that the proposal be drawn up in accordance with the president’s instructions to the Justice Minister. “A radical personnel reshuffling of the prosecution should be carried out to ensure that leadership should take responsibility for its failure to maintain independence and neutrality from the government. A radical reshuffling will bring vitality to the organization. I already expressed my opinion on the reshuffling of the prosecution to the Justice Minister,” said the President.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor general and justice minister met on March 7 around 9 a.m. to discuss the issue of changing the face of the prosecution, but the meeting ended due to the justice minister’s insistence on the radical proposal.