KB News Desk
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea has suggested adjusting the pace of its contentious prosecutorial reform plan, amid criticism that the reform could weaken protections for victims seeking justice.
The party appears to be weighing full deliberation on the reform-related legislation, aimed at stripping prosecutors of their investigative powers when a police probe in a criminal case is deemed insufficient.
This comes as the main opposition People Power Party ramped up its attack against its liberal rival, saying the unilateral reform push would end up eliminating the chance of challenging the outcome of a police probe through the prosecution’s intervention in it.
Critics say that without the measure, the truth behind high-profile violent crimes such as the recent Gwangju rape and murder case and the 2022 Busan attempted rape and murder case could not have been revealed.
Rep. Kang Jun-hyeon, senior spokesperson of the Democratic Party, said Wednesday the party “will hold sufficient discussions and gather opinions” in a way that will “address concerns” people have about its reform push.
“We will proceed to collect opinions by holding public hearings that involve the public, legal circles and civic groups,” Kang said.
Kang added that none of the three bills to revise the Criminal Procedure Act — aimed at removing the prosecution’s power without any exceptions — has yet to be confirmed as a party-line bill.
The liberal party has maintained its stance that the reform bill, proposed on July 9 by 22 of its lawmakers, “arrived late” given the time required for subordinate statutes to be prepared before the national prosecutors’ office splits into two on Oct. 2 in line with the reform push.
But the party lawmakers’ general assembly suggested on Tuesday that there were mixed views about whether its move to curb prosecutors’ power would leave crime victims vulnerable.
Democratic Party’s floor spokesperson Rep. Lee Ju-hee said Tuesday that setting a deadline for deliberation would “impede the process.” She added that more gatherings of lawmakers will take place, including one next week where experts are invited.
Even those seeking to run for party chair differed on whether there should be an exception to removing the prosecutors’ authority.
Among those who opposed the reform push was Rep. Ko Min-jung. Ko told reporters Tuesday that abolishing prosecutors’ investigative authority in sexual assault cases, child abuse cases or abuse of a disabled person is a matter that must be dealt with cautiously.
This contrasted with the other three hopefuls, Reps. Jung Chung-rae, Kim Min-seok and Song Young-gil, all of whom have called for complete and irreversible prosecutorial reform, citing the chances of abuses of prosecutorial power directed at politicians.
In the meantime, People Power Party lawmakers proposed a party-line bill package Wednesday aimed at protecting crime victims even after the split of the prosecutors’ office into two.
Before submitting the proposal, People Power Party chair Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok said Tuesday that the reform’s aim to transfer the investigative power entirely to police would “sacrifice people’s lives and safety,” adding that the prosecution’s power to conditionally investigate crimes “is designed to protect people’s rights and prevent no one from unfairly suffering from wrongful indictments.”
A woman with the pseudonym Kim Jin-ju, who survived a rape-murder attempt in Busan in 2022, said at a parliamentary forum hosted by the People Power Party that the police could not initially find proof of rape, but the prosecution could, even though their investigations were based on the same evidence.
Rep. Han Dong-hoon, a conservative independent lawmaker and the former chair of the People Power Party, invited Democratic Party lawmakers to a public debate over the reform with him on Tuesday. He added that Democratic Party lawmakers have not yet responded to his request.
