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President Lee Jae-myung speaks during the 44th Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on September 30. / Source: Yonhap News

President Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday criticized prosecutors for pursuing what he called meritless indictments and appeals, directing his cabinet to push for reforms to the appeals system in criminal cases.

“Prosecutors indict people without grounds, and when the defendants are acquitted, they keep filing appeals and final appeals to avoid accountability, causing suffering for the public,” Lee said during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan.

Chastising Justice Minister Chung Sung-ho, Lee asked, “Why do you allow the abuse of the Criminal Procedure Act? Why is the state so cruel to its citizens?” He recalled a past statement by former President Yoon Suk-yeol highlighting the same problem, noting that no reforms had been made since.

Lee said, “Defendants spend huge sums and endure hardship to win acquittals, only for prosecutors to appeal and drag cases all the way to the Supreme Court. Even if acquitted, families are financially ruined. Wasn’t this what former President Yoon himself once said? Yet it’s still happening today.”

When asked by Lee about the odds of acquittals being overturned, Justice Minister Chung replied that convictions are secured in only about 5% of appeals and 1.7% of Supreme Court cases.

“So in 95% of cases, people are suffering all over again in appeals courts just to reaffirm their innocence. And in 98.3% of Supreme Court appeals, they are spending money and enduring pain for nothing. How is that reasonable?” Lee said.

Lee added, “The foundation of criminal law is that even if 10 criminals go free, the state must not create a single wrongful conviction. If there is doubt, the ruling should be not guilty. Yet prosecutors have operated in the opposite way.”

Justice Minister Chung responded, “I receive daily reports from the prosecution bureau and issue oral directives on specific cases. We must revise the Criminal Procedure Act so that prosecutors cannot appeal unless there is a clear legal issue to dispute.”

He added that related regulations at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office would also be amended, saying, “Although there are review committees for appeals and final appeals, they have been staffed only by insiders, allowing mechanical appeals to persist. We will revise these rules.”