New Prosecutor-General Han Sang-dae on Friday vowed to stamp out corruption and pro-North Korea left-wingers as he took office at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul.

He also stressed the need to fight against complacency and irresponsibility within the prosecution to shore up public trust that has been deteriorating with critics arguing that the prosecution has, in some cases, been political.

“The prosecution is the center of the justice and guardian to safeguard free democracy, and should do its utmost to realize the rule of law,” he said during the ceremony.

“I am here to declare three wars on corruption, pro-North Korean forces and internal enemies within the prosecution.”

One of the key tasks he wants to tackle is the rampant corruption in political, economic and other areas, he stressed.

“Without eliminating the roots of corruption, we cannot enter the group of the world’s top-tier nations. We will muster up all our capabilities to stamp out corruption and bring our nation to make it join the clubs of the advanced countries,” he said.

Touching on those supporting North Korea and creating ideological conflicts here, he pledged to enhance its investigations to better deal with them.

“It would constitute dereliction of our duty should we just leave them to follow and worship North Korea. We should carry out more active investigations with a more systematic investigation method,” he said.

He also emphasized that prosecutors should not become complacent and negligent of their public duties to reestablish public confidence.

“The biggest enemy in ourselves is being arrogant,” he said.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)