Yoon Chooses Cheonggye Plaza... "Strengthening Prosecutorial Independence... Will Reform the Corruption Investigation Office"

11th Judicial Policy Announcement... "Abolition of Prosecutor General's Investigation Command Authority and High-Ranking Officials Corruption Investigation by Both Prosecutors and Police"

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is announcing policy pledges related to "realizing justice trusted by the people and serving the people" at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 14th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Hyunju Lee and Hyunji Kwon] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, chose Seoul Cheonggye Plaza as his first official campaign site on the 15th. Cheonggye Plaza symbolizes regime change, and the plan is to convey the meaning of "Yoon Seok-yeol raised by the people" there. It is known that the party is preparing a "Gwanghwamun President" proclamation ceremony. Candidate Yoon had previously announced plans to dismantle the Blue House and relocate the presidential office to Gwanghwamun, and at the proclamation ceremony on this day, he intends to introduce a new style of governance based on regime change.

Candidate Yoon plans to visit Daejeon next to deliver a message of national unity. On the second day, he will express his will for East-West harmony and regional development, focusing on Honam, Chungcheong, and Gangwon regions. Park Dae-chul, head of the People Power Party’s campaign headquarters, explained, "We will travel through the constituencies of the National Assembly by-elections, including those for the by-elections, to expose the corruption of Lee Jae-myung, such as the Daejang-dong scandal, and convey our commitment to the people’s livelihood economy, including real estate."

On the 14th, one day before the official campaign began, Candidate Yoon announced 11 judicial reform pledges, including reforms to the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA), which is responsible for investigating corruption among high-ranking officials. The main point is to abolish the investigative directive authority that allows the Minister of Justice to supervise and direct the Prosecutor General on specific cases.

On the same day at the People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, Candidate Yoon stated, "We will realize judicial services that are for the people, by the people, and closer to the people."

First, he mentioned abolishing the investigative directive authority of the Minister of Justice and institutionalizing a system where the Prosecutor General can annually request the prosecution’s budget from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The intention is to secure independence by budgeting the prosecution separately from the Ministry of Justice.

Regarding the HCIA, he pledged to abolish the toxic clauses that define it as having a superior and exclusive status and to normalize the "politically biased HCIA" by allowing the prosecution and police to investigate high-ranking officials’ corruption alongside the HCIA. In particular, Candidate Yoon used the expression "complete transformation" and vowed to reform it into a genuine investigative agency. Additionally, to realize "judicial services," he proposed ▲establishing a maritime specialized court ▲setting up a crime prevention environment improvement headquarters ▲assigning senior police officers of rank superintendent or higher to patrol police officers ▲establishing a responsible investigation system at the prosecution and police investigation stages ▲establishing an administrative appeals board ▲setting up a comprehensive legal aid organization ▲creating a special organization for investigating power-related sexual crimes and supporting victims.

Before starting his campaign activities, Candidate Yoon plans to focus on internal consolidation. He will attend a party members’ meeting held at the National Assembly in the afternoon to emphasize "one team unity." Then, he will visit the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business to present his "small and medium enterprise policy vision." This visit follows his promise during last year’s primary to return if he became the official candidate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.