Strong Prosecutorial Reform Announced
Consensus Reached on Stripping Investigative Powers Despite Differences in Details
On April 25, the presidential primary candidates of the Democratic Party of Korea announced plans for sweeping prosecutorial reform. Lee Jaemyung, former party leader and a Democratic Party presidential primary candidate, emphasized the need to separate the prosecution's investigative and indictment powers.
During the Democratic Party's 21st presidential primary candidate debate hosted by TV Chosun that day, Lee criticized the prosecution. In response to a question about prosecutorial investigation practices, he said, "As a legal professional, I have spent decades in the field, but I have never seen a prosecution like this." He continued, "They set a target for indictment and conduct investigations accordingly. They fabricate evidence and even create cases out of nothing." He added, "I believe it is time to end the system in which the prosecution holds both investigative and indictment powers, so that investigations cannot be conducted solely for the purpose of indictment."
Kim Dongyeon, governor of Gyeonggi Province and also a Democratic Party presidential primary candidate, responded to the same question by saying, "I believe it is necessary to reduce the prosecution to an indictment office and to reform the software aspects of the prosecution and prosecutors, such as revising the Serious Crimes Investigation Office." Previously, in his campaign pledges, Kim proposed: ▲ reducing the prosecution to an indictment office and fully stripping it of investigative powers ▲ establishing a Serious Crimes Investigation Office under the Prime Minister's Office to handle major crimes such as corruption, economic crimes, crimes by public officials, election crimes, major disasters, and drug crimes ▲ assigning ordinary crimes to the police ▲ gradually integrating (and expanding) the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials into the Serious Crimes Investigation Office. When announcing his pledges, he stated, "I will normalize the abnormal treatment of rookie prosecutors as grade 4 officials to grade 5, and plan to remove the constitutional provision granting prosecutors the exclusive right to request warrants through constitutional amendment." He added, "To maintain checks and balances on investigative agencies that could become overly powerful, I intend to use the prosecution's indictment authority as a counterbalance."
Kim Kyungsoo, former governor of South Gyeongsang Province, who raised the issue of prosecutorial reform by questioning the two candidates, criticized the prosecution, saying, "Looking at the prosecution's recent actions, when former President Yoon Sukyeol was released, they immediately gave up appealing, and before that, they raided almost everyone around Lee Jaemyung, who was his rival in the presidential race." He continued, "This level of oppression against the opposition and the previous administration is unprecedented." Referring to the prosecution's indictment of former President Moon Jaein, he said, "I believe these actions were enough to provoke public outrage and raise the question of whether the prosecution should continue to hold investigative powers." He added, "I believe a complete prosecutorial reform is needed, separating investigative and indictment powers from the prosecution, dismantling investigative and political prosecutors, and leaving only the indictment authority."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
