TheEconomistNovember 28th 2020 311T
he imageryis funereal. The slogans at-
tached to the sides of the vans outside
the Ministry of Justice are framed in black,
like pictures of someone recently de-
ceased. They read, “Democracy is dead”
and “The Ministry of Justice is dead.” The
dozens of funeral wreaths made of white
and yellow plastic flowers that have been
laid against the building’s fence also carry
messages. One addresses the president:
“Moon Jae-in, you’re going to die.” The ma-
jority express wrath for the justice minis-
ter: “Choo Mi-ae, you bitch.” Funeral music
wails from speakers mounted on the vans.
The protest, organised by a right-wing
group which insists that the wreaths’ mes-
sage is strictly metaphorical, and an earlier
phalanx of flowers left at the prosecution
service (pictured above) are rather extreme
expressions of support for Yoon Seok-youl,
the chief prosecutor, whom Ms Choo sus-
pended on November 24th—the first time a
justice minister has taken such a step.
Among other things, she accuses Mr Yoon
of spying on judges hearing cases against
her predecessor and of lacking political im-
partiality. Mr Yoon denies wrongdoing and
says he will challenge the “unjust” demo-
tion in court. He says the prosecution ser-
vice is being unfairly targeted by the justice
minister. That implies criticism of Mr
Moon, who has made reforming it one of
his political priorities.
The life-and-death rhetoric employed
by both sides may be overblown, but Mr
Moon is locked in a ferocious dispute with
prosecutors. He says he wants to stop both
the frequent manipulation of prosecutions
by the executive and the pursuit of vendet-tas against government officials by the
prosecutors. But rather than ending the
tug-of-war, Mr Moon’s approach risks in-
tensifying it, with potentially grave conse-
quences for him and his government.
South Korea’s prosecutors have the
power not just to indict suspects but also to
launch investigations, a task more com-
monly performed by the police in other
countries. Under the administrations of
Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, Mr
Moon’s predecessors, they were accused of
using their authority to increase their own
standing as well as to align themselves
with the political aims of the government
when it suited them. They were seen as too
soft on powerful politicians and business-
people, and too hard on those whom they
or the president of the day regarded as pes-
ky opponents. Both Mr Lee and Ms Park are
now serving long prison sentences for cor-
ruption which critics say prosecutors did
not scrutinise sufficiently during their
time in office.
A central aim of Mr Moon’s reform of the
prosecution service, parts of which passed
the National Assembly earlier this year,
was to put an end to such abuses by limit-
ing prosecutors’ investigative powers. Un-
der the new laws, which took effect in the
summer, they are supposed to yield some
authority to the police and some to a new
agency to investigate government officials
and business bigwigs.Rule of law in South Korea
Prosecution complex
GWACHEON
A push to make prosecutors less political is having the opposite effect
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