President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Prosecutor General Kim Oh-su in front of the office of the Blue House on the afternoon of the 18th. [사진 출처 = 연합뉴스]Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo, who expressed his resignation in protest against the proposal of a ‘completely deprived of the prosecution’s investigative authority’, actually withdrew his intention to resign after meeting with President Moon Jae-in.
On the 18th, when asked at the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul whether to accept the president’s rejection of the resignation, President Kim said, “It is necessary for public officials to respect the will of the appointing authority.”
President Kim said, “For me, I was desperate for life, and I am thinking that I will have no choice but to do my best under the circumstances until the end.”
Earlier, on the previous day, President Kim announced his intention to resign, saying, “I am sorry to the public and members of the prosecution for the conflict and strife over the legislative process of the ‘Inspection and Removal’ bill.”
After submitting his resignation letter to the Ministry of Justice, President Kim, who was on a leave of absence, had a meeting with President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House on the 18th. It was reported that the interview lasted for over an hour, starting at 5 p.m. on the same day.
In the interview, President Kim explained to President Moon the problems with the ‘legislative dictatorship’ style of the Democratic Party and the decrease in the ability to respond to crimes caused by the ‘check-and-take’ and it is known that he requested the exercise of the right to veto the bill.
After the interview, President Kim returned to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office around 7 pm on the 18th and met with reporters, saying, “On behalf of the members of the prosecution, I have spoken to the president in detail and sufficiently about the various problems of the Prosecutor’s Office.”
Regarding the resignation, President Kim said, “It is a matter of personal decision.” Still, he explained, “The statement I made at the time was all in my heart.”
In addition, after the interview, President Kim met with the chief prosecutors who visited the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office for the ‘National High Prosecutors’ Meeting’ to explain the contents of the interview and discuss future countermeasures.
The chiefs of the high prosecutors said, “They agreed that the bill submitted to the National Assembly had many contradictions and problems, which would cause serious confusion and inconvenience to the public.” requested,” he said.
He added, “We decided to do our best to fully explain the problems of the bill by actively participating in the parliamentary discussion process led by the president.”
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