Kwon Seong-dong on the Background of the 'Complete Prosecution Reform' Mediation Agreement: "Could Not Defeat the Democratic Party"

"Among the 6 Major Crimes, Failed to Protect Election and Public Official Crimes
Could Not Overcome Democratic Party's Demand That Only Original Bill Passage Is Acceptable"

Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the members' meeting held at the National Assembly on the 22nd with a serious expression. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, expressed a public apology on the 24th regarding the agreement on the so-called 'complete prosecution reform' bill mediated by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok, stating, "We could not overcome the strong demands of the Democratic Party."

On the same day, Kwon posted on Facebook, saying, "If the original 'complete prosecution reform' bill of the Democratic Party had passed, the prosecution's direct investigative authority over corruption and economic crimes would have completely disappeared in just three months."

Earlier, Speaker Park proposed a mediation plan to the floor leaders of both parties, which reduces the prosecution's investigative scope from six categories (corruption, economic crimes, public officials, elections, defense projects, major disasters, etc.) to two (corruption and economic crimes), while temporarily maintaining direct investigative authority. The plan also includes the establishment of a 'Serious Crime Investigation Agency' within one year by the National Assembly. This mediation plan is scheduled to be processed in the plenary session next week.

He explained, "Corruption and economic crimes currently constitute most of the prosecution's special investigation division's work and are the most difficult and complex cases. If the prosecution's direct investigative authority over these two categories disappears immediately, an investigative gap will occur. In other words, major corruption cases will effectively receive a free pass right away."

He continued, "On the other hand, major disaster crimes usually involve joint investigations by the police and prosecution when they occur. Defense industry corruption can also be classified as economic corruption cases and handled by the prosecution. Therefore, if managed skillfully, we believe the damage to the public can be minimized, so we reluctantly conceded."

However, Kwon apologized to the public, saying, "I apologize to the people. We failed to protect the remaining serious crimes among the six categories, namely election and public official crimes. Initially, we insisted on including these, but we could not overcome the Democratic Party's strong demand to reduce the prosecution's direct investigative authority even by one more category; otherwise, only the original bill would pass."

He added, "The public's concern that investigations into public officials will not be properly conducted must be resolved. We, the People Power Party, will prepare strong measures regarding this issue, including the problem of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which is not functioning properly."

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