Minister Jeong Seongho Offers Resignation, President Lee Rejects... Fallout After Ruling Party’s Abolition of Supplementary Investigation Rights

Ministry of Justice: "No Special Offer of Resignation"
Presidential Office: "Cannot Confirm Whether Resignation Was Offered"

Minister of Justice Jeong Seongho recently offered his resignation to President Lee Jaemyeong, but it is reported that President Lee rejected the offer.

Minister Sung Ho Jung, Remarks at the Ministry of Justice Talk Concert. Yonhap News

According to political sources on the 25th, Minister Jeong is said to have personally expressed his intention to resign to President Lee recently.

It is also known that Minister Jeong has previously stated multiple times, citing health reasons among others, that he wished to leave the ministerial post and return to the party. Nevertheless, some interpret this latest offer of resignation as possibly related to the Democratic Party’s official adoption of the complete abolition of supplementary investigation rights as its party line.

Minister Jeong has previously voiced opinions different from the party line in public during the ruling coalition’s efforts to revise the Criminal Procedure Act to abolish both the prosecutor’s direct investigation right and supplementary investigation right in their entirety.

On July 15, at a full session of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Minister Jeong also argued that if the prosecution’s supplementary investigation right is abolished, the ‘full case referral’ system should be revived so that all police cases are handed over to the prosecution as a way to prevent side effects.

The Ministry of Justice stated, “He merely repeated what he has always said; there was nothing special today about offering his resignation.” The Presidential Office also said it could not confirm whether Minister Jeong had expressed any intention to resign.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.