President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition team on Wednesday criticized the Democratic Party of Korea’s plan to deprive the prosecution of its investigative power, calling on the liberal party to stop “destroying the Constitution.”
Rep. Yoo Sang-beom, a senior member of the presidential transition committee, told reporters Wednesday that the committee is clearly against the plan to strip the prosecution of its powers, saying the move is directly against the Constitution and could undermine the interests of the general public.
“Complete abolition of the prosecution’s investigative power is directly against the motive behind the Constitution that has given prosecutors a right to request warrants, so (this legislative push) is no different from attempting to destroy the Constitution,” Yoo said in the press briefing.
“The Constitution directly gives prosecutors the right to request for warrants by outlining they can be requested to arrest, detain and search.”
Han Dong-hoon, a close confidant of Yoon who was picked as the next minister of justice on Wednesday, said in a presser that such a bill would hurt average citizens and most sectors were unanimous in their opposition to the idea.
“Considering this, attempts to pass any bills like this must be stopped at all costs,” Han said in response to a reporter’s question.
“Ways to do that will be discussed in the future with everyone.”
Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo also reiterated his opposition to the move, denouncing it as a “direct violation of the Constitution” that would benefit criminals and undermine the interest of their victims.
“It would be a direct violation of the Constitution,” Kim told reporters Wednesday. “If such a bill is pushed for, criminals would cheer, and crime victims and people would be left with no one to turn to. In a word, this goes against common sense.”
In a separate press conference held Wednesday afternoon, Kim said he has officially requested a one-on-one meeting with President Moon Jae-in to discuss the matter, adding that any law that prevents prosecutors from conducting investigations are directly against the Constitution.
“It is hard to accept why (the Democratic Party) is trying to take care of (the bill) on the matter of public interest during the provisional parliament of April like conducting a military operation,” Kim said.
The prosecutor general is expected to ask Moon to veto the bill and stop it from being enacted. He emphasized the prosecution would not be able to function at normal capacity if it loses all of its investigative powers.
A day earlier, the Democratic Party announced it would work toward passing a bill depriving the prosecution of its investigative power later this month by agreeing to adopt the prosecution reform bill as a party policy. The bill would surely be passed before Moon’s five-year term ends in early May, as the party, to which Moon also belongs, holds the majority in the National Assembly.
The ultimate goal is to make the bill into law through promulgation at Moon’s final Cabinet meeting slated for May 3, as Yoon, starting his term on May 10, is widely expected to veto the bill.
Despite facing immense opposition from almost all related sectors, the party defended its push as a means to correct the law enforcement agency that has long been accused of abusing its power for political purposes.
The liberal party has been aggressively pushing the bill since losing the presidential election last month. Some watchers have linked the move to expectations that the prosecution will launch extensive investigations into allegations surrounding the liberal party’s former presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung as well as those surrounding Moon and his close aides.
Yoon also vowed to bestow more authority and power to the prosecution as part of his campaign promises, and the liberal party was threatened to lose much of its progress made on its self-claimed prosecution reform. The president-elect formerly served as the head of the prosecution before Kim.
Moreover, the incumbent prosecutor general was seen to have sided with the incoming Yoon administration by asking the justice minister to be stripped of its power to lead prosecutorial investigations.
This was directly at odds with the position of Justice Minister Park Beom-kye, who has argued that he should retain that power to ensure that the prosecution’s investigations stay fair and impartial.
If changes to the prosecution go ahead as the ruling party plans, the prosecution would lose opportunities to conduct supportive investigations for critical cases, and the division of power and roles between the prosecution and the police could result in uncertainties and confusion for all parties.
A wide range of criminal investigations overseen by the prosecution would also “disappear” and be left unpursued, some have claimed, accusing the Democratic Party of using the criminal justice system for political purposes.
By Ko Jun-tae (
ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)
