Cabinet passes prosecution reform plans

The government on Tuesday approved partial restructuring of the prosecutors’ office proposed as part of prosecutorial reform plans.

The approval, given at the Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, comes a day after Cho Kuk resigned as justice minister, hours after announcing his prosecutorial reform plans. 

At the Cabinet meeting, the revision of the regulation on the administrative bodies of the prosecutors’ office was approved. As a result, four of the seven special investigation divisions at district prosecutors’ offices will be closed down. The remaining three will be renamed anti-corruption investigation divisions.

The regulation on the administrative bodies of the prosecutors’ office is a presidential decree, and does not require the National Assembly’s approval.

The special investigation division was first established within the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in January 1973.

With the division handling high-profile cases including those involving major political and corporate figures, the special investigation division had come to symbolize the prosecution’s power.

Along with the changes regarding the prosecution, the Cabinet also approved a number of items including the plans to extend deployment of peacekeeping forces in South Sudan and Lebanon by one year.

At the Cabinet meeting, Lee touched on a number of current issues, including the planned strike by Seoul’s public transport workers and African swine fever.

Seoul’s metro workers are set to stage partial strikes from Wednesday until Friday.

While saying that the union’s demands for better working conditions may be understandable, Lee urged the unionists to refrain from taking industrial action, and called on Seoul Metropolitan Government and other concerned government organizations to facilitate labor-management dialogue.

The prime minister also urged the Seoul city government to put in place emergency and safety measures ahead of the strike.

On the matter of African swine fever, Lee urged the concerned ministries, including the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of National Defense, to cooperate closely together to contain the spread. The virus has been found in six wild boars along the border with North Korea, complicating the process of containing its spread.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)