Justice Minister Park Beom-kye said he will gather various opinions from members of the prosecution on establishing an agency that would handle serious crimes. 

Park made the remarks on Tuesday to reporters after attending a Cabinet meeting. The minister said he is well aware of and understands the prosecution’s concern over separating the rights to investigate and indict. 

He said there is a need to heed the prosecution’s views on the matter as discussions are underway at the ruling Democratic Party’s special committee on prosecution reform to devise a bill that would set up such an investigative agency. 

Asked about the possibility of sitting down with Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl to discuss the investigative agency, Park stressed he is always open to meeting with the top prosecutor. 

However, he refused to comment on remarks that Yoon made regarding the agency earlier in the day. 

In an interview with the local daily Kookmin Ilbo, Yoon lambasted the ruling camp's push to establish the agency that would handle serious crimes, saying completely stripping the prosecution of its investigative rights would lead to a regression of democracy and the destruction of the constitutional spirit.