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| Seocho National Prosecutors' Office in Seoul. Yonhap News Agency |
12 July, 2024
A civil society group took on the almighty
prosecutor's office, demanding the unveiling of its clandestine rules, and
guess what? The court sided with the people for once.
The Administrative Division 6 of the Seoul Administrative Court, under Judge Na Jin-jin, handed a victory to the civil society organization, ruling against the prosecutor general's refusal to disclose information.
The so-called "Guidelines for Prosecutors' Initiation of Investigations" in Article 7, paragraph 1, shamelessly states that "in cases involving crimes specified by the Public Prosecutor's Office Act, investigations can proceed if any connection exists between the criminal, the facts, or the evidence."
This shadowy rule was the prosecutor’s dirty tool during the last presidential election to go after media outlets daring to publish the "Yoon Seok-yeol verification report." It enabled them to drag figures like Hwacheon Daewoo Oil Asset Management's Kim Man-bae and New Starpa personnel, alongside past and present journalists from JTBC, Kyunghyang Sinmun, RepoAct, and Newsbus, through the mud. Though prosecutors are supposed to focus only on corruption and economic crimes, they stretched their tentacles into defamation cases under this dubious guideline.
Last November, the organization asked for the rule’s full text to be made public, but the prosecutor's office refused, hiding behind the excuse that disclosure could hinder their work or infringe on criminal defendants' rights to a fair trial. In retaliation, the organization filed a lawsuit, claiming the refusal was a blatant act of injustice. And the court agreed.
It’s a small but significant win against the prosecutorial overreach that threatens to choke the very essence of free press and fair justice.