President Lee rejects chief prosecutor's resignation offer

President Lee Myung-bak rejected the top South Korean prosecutor's offer to resign over a reform measure, an aide said Friday, as officials sought to calm prosecutors protesting that the measure undermines their right to oversee police investigations. Prosecutor-General Kim Joon-gyu offered to resign when he met with Lee during an international prosecutors' conference Thursday, saying the measure made it difficult to keep his organizational leadership and "somebody should take responsibility," according to a presidential aide. "It is inappropriate to exit in the middle of your term," Lee said, turning down Kim's offer to step down, according to the aide. "Prosecutor-General Kim, you should hold your balance and carry out your duties" without being shaken by the situation, Lee said. Kim's offer came less than two months before the end of his two-year term in mid-August. Prosecutors stepped up protests after the parliamentary judiciary committee on Tuesday revised last week's hard-won compromise over how to share investigative rights with police in a way that they believe restricts their control of police investigations. Last week's agreement calls for allowing police to open investigations on their own under prosecutors' supervision. It had stipulated that details on the prosecution's oversight of police probes will be determined by a justice ministerial decree. But the ruling and opposition parties revised that clause to say that a presidential decree will determine those specifics. Prosecutors believe the change hurts their rights because drawing up a presidential decree effectively requires consent from police. The revision passed through parliament Wednesday. "What the president thinks is that if Prosecutor-General Kim is truly serious about taking responsibility, he should not step down now," a presidential official said. "Kim must be aware, too, whether it's appropriate to quit with about a month left in his term." Presidential officials have worked behind the scenes to calm prosecutors, sources said. "I believe the situation in the prosecution is returning to normal," a senior presidential official said.