Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in, the two main presidential candidates, rolled out plans to reform the prosecution Sunday, seeking to appeal to the public on how to deal with the scandal hit prosecutors’ office.

In a change of stance, the ruling Saenuri Party’s Park’s plans included the dissolution of the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. In addition, Park said that she would introduce measures to increase the transparency of human resource management and appointments within the judiciary.

“As a presidential candidate, I will return the power of the prosecution that originates from the public, to the public,” Park said. She added that her reform measures were aimed at removing corruption, privileges and politics from the public prosecutors’ office.

Moon plans are centered on the dissolution of the powerful Central Investigation Department and the establishment of an independent body for investigating high-level government officials.

“The bad practice of Cheong Wa Dae becoming involved in personnel management and investigations of the prosecutors’ office during the five year’s of the MB administration will be completely overhauled,” Moon said, referring to President Lee Myung-bak by his initials.

“The position of the prosecutor-general will be opened to those outside (the prosecutor’s office) to enable a prosecutor-general who has the trust of the public to take office.”

Under Moon’s plans, the posts of prosecutor-general and justice minister would be filled by people who do not currently hold a position in the judiciary services.

Moon added that the chief of the new bureaucrat investigation department would be selected by an independent committee and that the post’s tenure would not synchronize with that of the president to prevent the post coming under political influence.

Both Park and Moon’s plans will see the establishment of a nomination committee for the prosecutor general, and the number of chief prosecutor and higher posts reduced by half from the current 55.

The two candidates were also in agreement on the need to concentrate investigative powers on the police force, reinforce the prosecutors’ audit department, and the need to reduce the authority held by prosecutors.

Although the two candidates’ plans overlapped in a number of areas, Park’s designs do not include a new organization dedicated to investigating corruption by high-level government officials, which Moon honed in on to attack the conservative nominee’s plans.

“In his recently revealed text message, prosecutor Yoon Dae-hae said ‘Park Geun-hye will become (the president), and because there are no plans for a bureaucrat investigation organization (in Park’s plans), there is no need to discuss (Park’s designs) as reform plans,’” Moon said.

On Nov. 26, Yoon sent a text message saying that the reform plans he had posted on an internal online discussion board were ineffectual to a journalist by accident. The text message also outlined a plan of action that would allow the prosecutors’ office to appear to be reforming itself.

“It means that if Park becomes the president, the prosecutorial reform the public wants can’t be achieved. It can only be a camouflage reform,” said Moon.

Moon also called on Park to hold a televised debate regarding the two sides’ plans to tackle corruption, and for reforming politics and the public prosecutors’ office.

The suggestion was quickly rejected by the Saenuri Party.

“Before making comparisons with or attacking someone else’s pledges, (Moon) should see how different one’s own words and pledges are,” Lee Jung-hyun, chief of communications for Park’s campaign, said.

He added that Moon did not have the right to talk about reforming the prosecutors’ office, citing allegations that the DUP candidate influenced savings bank-related issues under the Roh Moo-hyun administration. 

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