Constitutional Court Dismisses Most of the Power Dispute Claims by People Power Party... Validates Declaration of Passage of the Complete Prosecution Reform Act

On the afternoon of the 23rd, the Constitutional Court in Jaedong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, ahead of the ruling on the case requesting a constitutional review related to the "Complete Removal of Prosecution's Investigation Rights (Geomsu Wanbak)" law.
[Photo by Choi Seok-jin]

On the 23rd, the Constitutional Court dismissed most of the petitions filed by the People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers regarding the authority dispute trial related to the 'Complete Stripping of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights (Geomsu Wanbak)' law, which was led by the Democratic Party of Korea last year.

On the afternoon of the same day, at the grand bench of the Constitutional Court in Jaedong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, the court held a verdict session on the authority dispute trial filed by PPP lawmakers concerning the amended Prosecutors' Office Act and the amended Criminal Procedure Act, dismissing both the PPP's request for confirmation of authority infringement against the Speaker of the National Assembly and the request for nullification of the proclamation of the passage of the bills.

The Constitutional Court also dismissed the PPP lawmakers' request for nullification of the proclamation of the passage of the bills against the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. However, with a 5 (in favor) to 4 (dismissal) decision, the court recognized that the respondent, the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, infringed on the petitioners' rights as members of the National Assembly to deliberate and vote on the bills by proclaiming the passage of the partial amendments to the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act as committee bills at the 4th plenary meeting of the 385th National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on April 27, 2022, and thus accepted this part of the petition.

Although the Constitutional Court accepted a very small portion of the petitions, it ruled that the act of proclaiming the passage of the amended Prosecutors' Office Act and the amended Criminal Procedure Act was not invalid. Therefore, unless a conflicting decision arises in the authority dispute trial filed by the Ministry of Justice, the effectiveness of these laws is expected to be maintained.

Earlier, lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea proposed partial amendments to the Prosecutors' Office Act on April 15 last year, just before former President Moon Jae-in's term ended, which reduced the scope of crimes for which prosecutors could initiate investigations from six to two categories, including corruption and economic crimes. They also proposed partial amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, including the establishment of a prohibition on separate investigations by prosecutors, reduction of the scope of supplementary investigations by prosecutors on cases transferred from the police, and removal of the complainant's right to object to the police's decision not to prosecute. These bills were passed in the plenary sessions on April 30 and May 3 of the same year, respectively.

In response, the People Power Party and the Ministry of Justice each filed authority dispute trials with the Constitutional Court, which has been hearing the two cases separately without consolidation.

PPP lawmakers Yoo Sang-beom and Jeon Ju-hye filed an authority dispute trial with the Constitutional Court on April 29 last year against the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the Speaker of the National Assembly, claiming that during the amendment process, the Democratic Party neutralized the agenda adjustment committee through the 'disguised party withdrawal' of lawmaker Min Hyung-bae and undermined the unlimited debate (filibuster) in the plenary session through 'splitting the session,' thereby infringing on the rights of PPP lawmakers, who were then the opposition party, to deliberate and vote.

They sought confirmation that the following acts infringed on their constitutionally and legally granted rights to deliberate and vote on bills and requested that these acts be declared null and void: ▲the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee proclaiming the passage of the partial amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act, which was submitted as a coordinated bill, as a committee bill on April 27, 2022; ▲the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee proclaiming the passage of the partial amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, also submitted as a coordinated bill, as a committee bill on the same day; and ▲the Speaker of the National Assembly submitting the alternative bills for the partial amendments to the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act to the plenary session on the same day.