Kwon Seong-dong: "Democratic Party's Pursuit of Complete Prosecution Reform Can Only Be Seen as an Attempt to Reject Presidential Election Defeat"

On the 8th, at the National Assembly meeting held to elect the new floor leader of the People Power Party, Kwon Seong-dong, who was elected as the new floor leader, is delivering his acceptance speech. / Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Kwon Seong-dong, the newly appointed floor leader of the People Power Party, said on the 11th regarding the Democratic Party's push for "Geomsu Wanbak" (complete removal of the prosecution's investigative authority), "It can only be seen as a move to reject the presidential election defeat."

On the same day, appearing on CBS Radio's Kim Hyun-jung's News Show, Floor Leader Kwon said about the Democratic Party's push for Geomsu Wanbak, "Conscientious (Democratic Party) lawmakers know that this is unreasonable."

He pointed out, "Two years ago, investigative authority was adjusted between the prosecution and police, and most investigative authority was transferred to the police. The establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) was considered the completion of prosecution reform by President Moon Jae-in and the Democratic Party," adding, "It is impossible to drastically change the national criminal justice system less than a year after its implementation. It is unacceptable to push this unilaterally or to process it hastily."

Floor Leader Kwon argued, "(The Democratic Party) is ultimately doing this out of fear that they will become the target," and "There is no way to fill the investigative gap that will result from Geomsu Wanbak." Regarding the fact that six major crimes were not transferred to the police, he said, "There is no way to fill the investigative gap," and "It is unacceptable for the Democratic Party to unilaterally push this through at the end of a regime in a bulldozing manner." He added, "To handle this issue, which concerns an important part of the judicial system overall, a task force or a special committee should be formed between the ruling and opposition parties to seriously discuss and receive expert opinions before proceeding."

Regarding the Democratic Party's argument that Geomsu Wanbak is necessary to preemptively block President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol from falling into the temptation of authoritarian rule, he rebutted, "It is a kind of framing." He warned, "There are suspicions that the Yoon Seok-yeol government will become a prosecution republic during the local elections. If the Democratic Party again ignores the people and acts unilaterally and dogmatically, so-called legislative dictatorship, they will face a severe judgment from the people in this local election as well."

Floor Leader Kwon also said that within the Democratic Party, "I understand that a considerable number of lawmakers are saying this is excessive and questioning whether it is necessary to go this far" regarding Geomsu Wanbak.

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