Justice Minister Park Beom-kye is seeking to curtail the prosecution’s investigative power.

His move came nine months after his predecessor, Choo Mi-ae, reorganized the prosecution to weaken prosecutors’ power to conduct direct investigations.

According to the ministry’s prosecution reorganization plan, Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office will be able to launch investigations into six categories of serious crimes: Corruption, economy, public officials, elections, defense business, and large-scale accidents. The prosecution’s investigation power was limited to these six crimes early this year.

However, the other local districts will be able to initiate investigations only after receiving approval from the prosecutor general. Their branch offices will be required to get approval even from the justice minister.

Under the plan, it will be almost impossible for prosecutors to investigate allegations involving those in power even after finding leads on crimes directly within their jurisdictions. Even after opposition parties or civic groups file a lawsuit or request the prosecution to indict suspects, prosecutors will not be able to commence investigations if the prosecutor general or justice minister does not approve them.

This is an attempt to blockade investigations into allegations unfavorable to the current regime.

The Seoul Central District is under the control of its head, Lee Sung-yoon, regarded as loyal to President Moon Jae-in. Lee has either blocked investigations or dragged his feet over investigations involving figures close to Moon.

Not even a few allegations connected to the presidential office were dug up by prosecutors in local districts or their branch offices.

The illegal travel ban on former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-eui was investigated by the Anyang branch of the Suwon district.

The illegal data manipulation to force the permanent shutdown of the Wolsong-1 nuclear power plant was investigated by the Daejeon district.

Ex-Vice Justice Minister Kim Oh-soo, nominated to the post of prosecutor general, is regarded as friendly to Moon. For the 22 months when he served as vice justice minister, he is known to have kept in step with Justice Ministers Park Sang-ki, Cho Kuk, and Choo. Cho and Choo pushed hard to weaken the prosecution in the name of reform. It is hard to expect Kim to approve investigations into allegations negative to Moon.

In January last year, the ministry under Choo reduced the number of criminal departments with the power to launch investigations. It disbanded Seoul Southern District’s investigation team, which specialized in security crimes. In August, the ministry additionally cut back the number of departments with direct investigation authority.

Now, the ministry is trying to block investigations unfavorable to the administration entirely through a sort of permit system.

This infringes upon prosecutors’ right to investigate independently. If prosecutors cannot investigate crimes despite evidence because the prosecutor general or justice minister blocks it, this would be an abuse of official authority.

The Moon administration has sharply curtailed the prosecution’s investigative power under the pretext of reform. But it caused considerable side effects. As the ministry dismantled the security crime investigation team, fraud probes into the Lime and Optimus funds lost momentum, causing pain to the victims.

Prosecution reform does not cut it with the dispersion of investigation power to the police or the creation of a new agency targeting high-ranking officials.

Police, which took over much of the authority from the prosecution, led investigations into land speculation by former and current employees of Korea Land and Housing Corp. but they face criticism that their probes are fizzling out.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials is being criticized over its political neutrality.

The point of prosecution reform must be to secure the independence and political neutrality of the law enforcement agency. The reorganization plan in question is effectively a permit system for investigation and goes against this purpose.

A weakened investigation capability for irregularities involving those close to the ruling class will only cause damage to many innocent people.

If the government wants to bust crimes, particularly those connected to power, it must strengthen the prosecution’s investigation, not try to control it. Dispersed investigation power must be returned to, and kept within the prosecution.