Park suspended from duties while facing two-month disciplinary request
The suspension of Park Sang-yong, deputy chief prosecutor at the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, is dragging on with no end in sight after disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Park over alleged violations of USFKI 5200.08 during the investigation into SBW's illicit remittances to North Korea. The suspension has now exceeded six months — the maximum period allowed under the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act.
The prosecutors' disciplinary committee that would deliberate on whether to impose sanctions on Park has yet to convene, according to legal sources Sunday. The Ministry of Justice suspended Park from duties on April 6 on grounds of dereliction of duty and undermining the fairness of the investigation during the North Korea remittance probe.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office — now reorganized as the prosecution office — requested in May that the Ministry of Justice impose a two-month suspension without pay on Park, following a review by its inspection committee. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office sought the disciplinary action after a human rights violations review TF at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office found that Park had demanded a confession through the defense counsel of Lee Hwa-young, former deputy governor for peace affairs of Gyeonggi Province, by referencing other ongoing investigations, and had failed to prepare a record of the investigative process after summoning a detainee for questioning.
Park has maintained that the former deputy governor's side first sought leniency, and that Park merely explained the legal framework — not that Park attempted to persuade or coerce.
The Ministry of Justice subsequently notified Park of a separate suspension order effective June 6 and lasting until further notice. Under the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act, a duty suspension imposed by the justice minister carries no set time limit.
Park also came under an internal investigation by the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office in connection with remarks made at a hearing organized solely by the People Power Party to examine allegations of dropped charges and trial manipulation by the Democratic Party. The Ministry of Justice is understood to have convened an inspection committee in August to deliberate on and recommend the necessity and appropriate level of disciplinary action against Park.
The continued delay in convening the disciplinary committee has pushed Park's period of exclusion from duties beyond the six-month maximum for a suspension without pay under the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act. Concerns have been raised that the de facto indefinite suspension amounts to a penalty exceeding what any formal disciplinary measure could impose.
Under the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act, six types of disciplinary action are available against prosecutors: removal from office, dismissal, discharge, suspension without pay, pay reduction and reprimand. Suspension without pay and above are classified as heavy disciplinary measures. A suspension without pay bars a prosecutor from performing duties and withholds salary for a period of between one and six months.
park.jiyeong@heraldcorp.com
