Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho tendered his resignation to President Lee Jae-myung, Kyunghyang Shinmun reported. The move came as debate grew over a plan to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation power.

Supplementary investigation power refers to prosecutors' authority to further investigate cases referred by police. On fully abolishing it, even within the ruling party there were reportedly concerns about constitutional issues and calls to 'put safeguards in place.'

How authority is allocated in the criminal-justice system bears directly on checks and balances between investigation and indictment, and on protecting citizens' rights. A review of how the change would affect actual investigative practice is also needed.

Whether the presidential office will accept the resignation has not been confirmed. The scale of the fallout will depend on the choice of a successor and the direction of legislative debate.

We take no party's side, reporting the matter around how institutional change affects citizens' rights and judicial procedure. The Chinese community in Korea, too, has reason to watch changes in criminal process.