The ruling and opposition parties clashed over the latest development in the prosecution probe.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Tuesday said it would review filing a complaint against the prosecution for publicizing criminal suspicions surrounding the minister before guilt is proven.

Democratic Party Vice Floor Leader Rep. Lee Won-wook said during a house meeting, “announcing a suspected offense is illegal even under the current law,” and that the party would consider “filing a formal complaint against the prosecution for gross misconduct.”

Cho had said last week the implementation of measures regulating release of criminal suspicion information -- a revised press policy proposed by his predecessor former Justice Minister Park Sang-ki -- would be held off until a probe on his family is finalized.

“But that doesn’t mean the prosecution can indulge in the existing convention and publicize information on the ongoing probes,” the vice floor leader said.

Democratic Party Chairman Rep. Lee Hae-chan denounced the probe as “a most obnoxious prosecutorial custom of ransacking.”

“It is a shame prosecutors aren’t able to substantiate any guilt, even after a month,” he said.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party filed an injunction with the Constitutional Court to suspend Cho from performing his ministerial authority after Monday’s raid.

The conservative party said in a press release the injunction had been requested on grounds of “ensuring the prosecution’s fair probe of the minister, who is virtually a suspect at this point.”

“If Cho were to hold onto his post -- as a direct superior to the prosecutors -- it would severely hinder the prosecutors’ ability to execute a probe unimpeded.”

The opposition also pointed out the minister’s repeated pledge to reduce the prosecution’s investigative authority and handing jurisdiction over to police.

“The Justice Ministry had proposed excluding Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl from the probe on Minister Cho’s family, immediately after he assumed office,” the party said. “It is not a stretch to interpret the ministry’s moves as efforts to keep the prosecution in check.”

Cheong Wa Dae appointed Yoon, a star prosecutor who led the probe into corruption charges against impeached President Park Geun-hye, to the top prosecutorial post in July.

Meanwhile, Cho, saying he has “come to understand how citizens who have been subjected to forced investigation must have felt,” reaffirmed his “resolution to carry through (his) duty as justice minister,” which he said is to “pursue reform of the prosecution, as well as within the Justice Ministry.”

The home raid came after a testimony by a Korea Investment & Securities Co. banker surnamed Kim, who worked as the Cho family’s assets manager for five years. He told prosecutors that he had been called in to the minister’s residence to replace the storage devices in the computers on Aug. 29.

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)