The "Investigation Committee on Property of Pro-Japanese and Anti-National Collaborators," which is scheduled to relaunch this coming December after 16 years, is reportedly planning to maintain the previous regulations that failed to recover a single overseas pro-Japanese asset.
According to data obtained by the office of Representative Lee Jae-gang of the Democratic Party of Korea, who sits on the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, the Ministry of Justice—which is preparing for the launch of the second-term investigation committee—plans to maintain the existing regulations involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to secure evidence located abroad.
During the first-term investigation committee, the enforcement decree stipulated that if it was determined that relevant evidence or data was abroad, the committee could request cooperation from the country concerned through the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
However, records of cooperation with the first-term investigation committee could not be found in the data held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The pathway for investigating overseas assets created by the law did not function during the actual recovery process.
From 2006 to 2010, the first-term investigation committee tracked down and vested in the state 2,359 plots of land valued at 237.3 billion won belonging to 168 pro-Japanese and anti-national collaborators, all of which were domestic assets.
Since the investigation committee cannot directly investigate assets located overseas, cooperation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a core procedure for investigating overseas assets of pro-Japanese and anti-national collaborators.
It is necessary to secure local data through diplomatic channels such as overseas diplomatic missions and receive cooperation from the governments and relevant agencies of the countries concerned.
Although the special law for the operation of the second-term investigation committee also specifies that it can request the submission of data and factual inquiries from related organizations, this amounts to nothing more than general cooperation authority.
It is reported that discussions within the government to resolve this issue have not taken place even once yet.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it has no history of receiving requests for cooperation from the Ministry of Justice regarding the launch of the second-term investigation committee.
Critics point out that unless the regulations on cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are revised into actual investigative procedures before the launch of the second-term investigation committee, the second-term committee will also end up as a half-baked effort limited to domestic asset investigations.
(Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Lee Da-in | Design by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by Digital News)
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