Don't dismiss the justice minister's resignation offer

Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho recently offered to resign to President Lee Jae Myung, according to reports. His decision appears to reflect frustration over the Democratic Party's determination to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority despite President Lee's earlier call for further parliamentary deliberation. Although the president rejected the resignation, the fact that the minister responsible for judicial affairs sought to step down only two months before the prosecution service is scheduled to be reorganized into the Public Prosecution Office is both surprising and troubling.

Jung has repeatedly voiced concerns that differ from the ruling party's position as it pushes revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act eliminating both prosecutors' direct investigative authority and their supplementary investigative powers. He has consistently argued that police investigations require meaningful oversight. During a National Assembly committee meeting on July 15, he proposed restoring the previous system requiring police to forward all completed cases to prosecutors if supplementary investigative authority is abolished, arguing that it would reduce unintended consequences.

His proposal was ignored. The ruling party finalized abolition as its official position, and the amendment is expected to reach the National Assembly plenary session as early as Thursday.

Supplementary investigative authority is the minimum safeguard remaining after previous reforms transferred primary investigative authority to the police. It enables prosecutors to correct incomplete investigations, prevent investigative gaps and better protect crime victims and socially vulnerable groups. A restructuring of the criminal justice system should not become a political instrument in an internal party leadership contest.

Choi Bo-yoon, senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, argued in a statement on Sunday that a responsible justice minister should have done more than offer to resign. Faced with changes that could fundamentally reshape the criminal justice system, Jung should have urged the president to exercise his constitutional veto power and defended the rule of law until the end, Choi said.

Regardless of partisan criticism, Jung still has a responsibility as justice minister to make every effort to persuade hard-line members of the ruling party and recommend that the president reconsider the legislation.

President Lee also should not regard rejecting the minister's resignation as sufficient. If the bill abolishing supplementary investigative authority reaches his desk, he should carefully weigh whether it adequately protects the public from investigative failures and institutional imbalance. If it does not, exercising his constitutional veto would be an appropriate means of fulfilling his responsibility to safeguard the criminal justice system and protect the public interest.