Justice Minister Park Beom-kye has expressed strong regret over a recent decision by senior prosecutors to close a bribery case involving former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook without a re-examination of past testimonies.

Park had exercised his command authority and ordered the Supreme Prosecutors' Office(SPO) to reconsider the case given suspicions of induced false testimony. Following a marathon meeting on Friday, high-ranking prosecutors decided to dismiss the perjury charges. 

Minister Park conveyed his stance for the first time on Monday through a statement by another ministerial official in which he questioned whether the purpose of his order to seek "procedural justice" was reflected in the senior prosecutors’ meeting.

Park said regardless of the outcome, discussions and procedures to handle the case should be fair and reasonable as his order was to see if there was any "unreasonable decision-making" in the prosecution's previous investigation.

The Justice Ministry's inspection unit, at Park's order, has begun a process to look into problematic areas surrounding the investigation of the ex-prime minister's case with the SPO.

The former prime minister, who has claimed innocence, served a two-year jail term that ended in 2017 for accepting illegal political funds from a late businessman while in office. However, speculation surfaced last year that prosecutors had forced witnesses to give false testimony to win the conviction.