Joo Jin-woo, Chairman of the Special Committee to Block the Special Prosecutor Act for the Revocation of Prosecution by the People Power Party's Central Election Control Committee, speaks at the committee's first meeting at the National Assembly on May 19. [Yonhap News photo material] 

The People Power Party has directly targeted acting Prosecutor General Koo Ja-hyun regarding the disciplinary request against Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Sang-yong of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, who investigated the Ssangbangul North Korea remittance case. 

Joo Jin-woo, Chairman of the People Power Party's Special Committee to Block the Special Prosecutor Act for Fabricated Prosecution (Revocation of Prosecution), announced on the 29th, during a visit to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to protest, that "acting Prosecutor General Koo Ja-hyun has fled" and revealed plans to file a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. 

The People Power Party's Special Committee to Block the Special Prosecutor Act for Fabricated Prosecution (Revocation of Prosecution), along with committee members including Vice Chairwoman Lee So-hee, visited the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, to demand a halt to the disciplinary action against Prosecutor Park. 

Prosecutor Park is a prosecutor who participated in the investigation of the Ssangbangul North Korea remittance case. The People Power Party views this disciplinary request not as a mere internal prosecutorial disciplinary matter, but as a political measure to shake the structure of maintaining the prosecution's case in the trial related to President Lee Jae-myung. 

Joo stated at the scene, "We came here to demand a halt to Prosecutor Park's disciplinary action, but acting Prosecutor General Koo has fled," and vowed to "hold him strongly legally accountable." He further argued, "Acting Prosecutor General Koo requested disciplinary action against Prosecutor Park to create a forced justification for 'revoking the prosecution against Lee Jae-myung'," and claimed, "Acting Prosecutor General Koo, who should be preventing a monstrous crime, has instead become an accomplice to the revocation of prosecution." 

The People Power Party plans to file a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against acting Prosecutor General Koo for abuse of power and dereliction of duty. 

Joo argued, "Acting Prosecutor General Koo's abuse of disciplinary authority and the right to request disciplinary action is abuse of power," and stated, "Failing to protect a prosecutor who stood up to power and instead handing them over to those in power is dereliction of duty." 

He also urged, "Acting Prosecutor General Koo must step down from his position immediately," and called on the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution to "immediately cease any further attempts to discipline Prosecutor Park." 

Vice Chairwoman Lee So-hee also said, "We must not pave the way for halting the presidential trial by shaking a prosecutor who investigated power," and urged, "The prosecution must fulfill its duty to maintain the prosecution's case based on law and evidence, without being swayed by political pressure." 

This clash is evolving beyond the disciplinary action against individual Prosecutor Park to encompass the prosecution's responsibility for maintaining its case. 

The People Power Party argues that the disciplinary request against Prosecutor Park, combined with the push for the Special Prosecutor Act for Fabricated Prosecution (Revocation of Prosecution), could lead to the revocation of prosecution or the nullification of prosecution maintenance in the case related to President Lee Jae-myung. 

The essence of this matter is not a disciplinary issue concerning one prosecutor. 

The core issue is whether the standards for post-investigation disciplinary action against prosecutors who investigated cases involving power are based on law and procedure, or on political necessity. 

The moment internal prosecutorial disciplinary actions become linked to the issue of maintaining the prosecution's case in a presidential trial, the controversy is bound to escalate beyond an internal audit to issues of the rule of law and prosecutorial independence.