President Lee Jae Myung and Minister of Justice Jeong Seong-ho, who recently offered his resignation, engaged in a tense exchange over the proposed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act during a briefing on the 5th. It was reported that the previous day President Lee told Minister Jeong, “Do well and hang in there,” leading to interpretations that he effectively dissuaded Jeong from resigning.

That day at the Blue House State Guest House, President Lee presided over the briefing and received reports from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on operating the joint prosecutors-police investigation headquarters following the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act. When President Lee asked Minister Jeong, “The Ministry of Justice must actually have many concerns as well, right?”, Jeong replied, “The legal basis for operating the joint investigation headquarters is very weak at the moment. From our perspective, it is effectively nonexistent.”

President Lee said, “If it is not prohibited, (prosecutors can also investigate).” Minister Jeong reiterated, “That is not so,” countering, “Unless the basis for (operating the joint investigation headquarters) is clearly set out in the investigation rules, there could be significant problems in the process of maintaining prosecutions.” In response, President Lee said, “If the investigation rules are the issue, then we can make them,” and Minister Jeong stated, “As we see it now, there is no provision providing such a basis.”

When President Lee asked, “I have not read the amended Criminal Procedure Act; under the amended law, does it say that prosecutors (within the joint headquarters) must not conduct investigations?”, Minister Jeong answered, “Yes. Any legal basis for investigations has disappeared.” When President Lee sought views on a remedy that would require reinvestigation of cases not forwarded to prosecutors, Jeong said, “Because they are not their own cases, the level of interest among prosecutors will decline,” adding, “What we are concerned about are cases without complainants or victims (so-called ex officio cases), because if the police close them at the first stage, there will be even less interest.”

During remarks by the citizen participation panel that followed, when one attendee called for expanding prisons, President Lee also said, “Our Minister Jeong Seong-ho has gained a comrade.” Minister Jeong responded, “That is what I have always advocated. I will pursue it more proactively.”

The meeting that day between President Lee and Minister Jeong drew attention because it took place after Jeong publicly offered his resignation. In particular, since Jeong expressed opposition to the complete abolition of the authority of prosecutors to conduct supplementary investigations and then tendered his resignation, attention also focused on their exchange over the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act.

According to officials at the Blue House and others, the previous day at a closed cabinet meeting, after receiving a report from Minister Jeong on the status of correctional facilities, President Lee stood up as the meeting ended and, with a lighthearted joke, said, “Do well and hang in there.” This is interpreted as a request for him to remain a while longer as head of the Ministry of Justice, the ministry in charge, ahead of the launch of the Prosecution Office and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency in October.