Editorial: Kim Seung-won Must Keep His Pledge Not to Direct Prosecutors to Drop Charges

Justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won has drawn attacks from the People Power Party and others as a prospective “minister for dropping charges.” Against that backdrop, the editorial welcomes his statement that he would not direct prosecutors to withdraw charges in President Lee Jae-myung’s cases.

Kim said on the 3rd that the justice minister has no direct authority over such a decision and that he had no intention of directing the prosecutor general. He said the prosecutor handling the trial should decide whether to maintain the charges, and that he would respect that authority. Kim previously co-chaired a lawmakers’ group calling for the charges in Lee’s cases to be withdrawn and repeatedly argued that they should be canceled. He now draws a distinction between those views and his prospective role as minister, saying that as a lawmaker he conveyed public concerns that cases created through illegal investigations should be corrected by the state, while as a nominee he would follow law and principle.

The editorial argues that withdrawing charges would be justified if illegal indictments were clearly established and supported by evidence. Without that foundation, it says, an aggressive effort could damage public trust in government and create a political and moral crisis for Lee’s administration and the Democratic Party.

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The justice minister has no direct authority, and I have no intention of directing the prosecutor general.

A Justice Ministry committee is examining whether prosecutors abused their authority in Lee’s cases, and the Democratic Party has said it will pursue a special counsel investigation into fabricated indictments. If the investigation confirms such conduct, the editorial says, the matter should proceed through legal procedures. It also urges the party to delete from its special counsel bill a provision granting the special counsel authority to withdraw charges. A special counsel appointed by the president would struggle to establish legitimacy for such a move, even if evidence of fabricated indictments emerged, the editorial says.

The National Assembly should now examine whether Kim is fit to oversee a criminal justice system approaching a major transition, including his policy and ethical record. The editorial says he must provide an explanation the public can accept regarding allegations that he sought favors for approval of clinical trials for a COVID-19 treatment.

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The prosecutor handling the maintenance of the charges should decide, and I have absolutely no intention of considering the minister’s power to direct.