Prosecutor General Kim Jin-tae clarified Thursday that the investigative authority would not scrap its position to take stern punitive measures against defamation by the Internet and mobile users.

Kim, however, admitted that the prosecution had caused unnecessary controversy involving the alleged cyber-surveillance on ordinary people, by using irregular expressions in its statement about turning up the heat on rule-violators.

His remarks came during the National Assembly’s audit on the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.

“The prosecution had failed to use refined expressions,” he told lawmakers. “But the official stance of the prosecution (toward the defamation cases) has not changed.”

Concerning the public’s reaction over the alleged surveillance, Kim said, “I believe some people regard the plan (bolstering the Internet monitoring) as a reasonable one. But some people regard it as somewhat rigid.”

Meanwhile, the head prosecutor downplayed investigators were moving to conduct real-time monitoring on postings and conversations of the users of KakaoTalk, a leading SNS service provider. “The prosecution has no equipment (for the real-time monitoring),” he said.

Rep. Seo Gi-ho of the progressive Justice Party said, “It is not that the public overreacted to the prosecutor’s plan but that the prosecution overreacted to the president’s instruction.”

Seo criticized the prosecution for moving to launch investigations on defamation suspects even without complaints or litigation from the victims.

Kim refuted the lawmaker’s remarks. He argued that the prosecution would “launch investigations as long as the alleged cases are criminal in nature,” and the plan is not about unfair probes.

Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy claimed that the prosecution accessed 37,453 conversations on phones, emails and KakaoTalk by asking the court to issue warrants over the past five years.

Her remarks differ from the prosecution’s earlier statement that only an average of 100 warrants were issued a year.

Regarding the apparently different figures, Kim said that one warrant could involve a variety of criminal cases.

Kim said he does not use the KakaoTalk app, and added, “It is not appropriate for a prosecutor general to use it as the service is designed for the public.”

Last August, prosecutors launched a new task force, vowing strict action against anyone who spreads false information that could bring about “social confusion and discord,” worrying many KakaoTalk users about the privacy of their chats.

Opposition lawmakers had denounced the prosecution for “being demoted to the (role of) warrior” of President Park Geun-hye.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)