Procedural Legitimacy Challenged as People Power Party Becomes Last Defense Line for 'Geomsu Wanbak'

Confusion Continues in Law Enactment Process
Kwon Seong-dong: "Passed Without Knowing What It Is"
Injunction Filed to Suspend Law's Effectiveness in Court
Park Hong-geun: "Denial of Legislative Branch's Value" Backlash

Agreement → Cancellation → Failed Renegotiation → Passed by Legislation Committee → Filibuster in Plenary Session... A Challenging Week of 'Geomsu Wanbak'

[Asia Economy Reporters Oh Ju-yeon, Park Joon-ee, Kwon Hyun-ji] The Democratic Party of Korea is facing criticism that procedural legitimacy has been ignored in various places as it forcibly pushed forward the ‘Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights (Geomsu Wanbak)’ bill. The Democratic Party plans to hold plenary sessions on the 30th and the 3rd of next month to finalize the passage of the Geomsu Wanbak bill, but the People Power Party warned on the 28th that "there will be a harsh price to pay."

Democratic Party lawmaker An Min-seok is conducting an unlimited debate (filibuster) in favor of 'Geomsu Wanbak' (separation of prosecution's investigation and indictment rights) at the National Assembly plenary session on the 27th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, strongly opposed the bill during the Supreme Council meeting held that morning, stating that "the submission of the amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act is null and void," and pointed out in detail that procedural legitimacy was not observed. In particular, there is criticism that the bill passed by the National Assembly’s Judiciary Committee subcommittee and the bill passed by the full Judiciary Committee do not match each other, proving the recklessness of the forced passage.

The amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act, created by the Democratic Party based on Speaker Park Byeong-seok’s mediation proposal, limited the types of crimes for which prosecutors can directly investigate to two categories: corruption and economic crimes. The legal clause itself was defined as ‘among corruption crimes and economic crimes’ to block the possibility of expanding the scope of prosecutorial investigations through enforcement ordinances later. A provision prohibiting separate investigations related to supplementary investigations by prosecutors on police-transferred cases was also included. However, the Democratic Party revised some provisions through negotiations between the floor leaders of both parties immediately after the bill passed the Judiciary Committee subcommittee, changing ‘among’ to ‘such as’ corruption and economic crimes. This was in response to the People Power Party’s argument that limiting the scope to only two categories would contradict Speaker Park’s mediation intent. However, at the subsequently convened agenda coordination committee, the Democratic Party’s original bill without the revisions was submitted and passed. At the full Judiciary Committee meeting held afterward, the bill from the agenda coordination committee should have been submitted, but instead, the bill negotiated between the floor leaders of both parties was submitted and passed. The clause prohibiting separate investigations by prosecutors was deleted, changing the wording to ‘such as corruption and economic crimes’ and stating that “in the case of crimes transferred by judicial police officers, it shall be limited to the scope of the same criminal facts as the relevant case.” The amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act also excluded police-transferred cases from the scope of the prohibition on separate investigations. Floor leader Kwon said, “The Democratic Party submitted the subcommittee bill that they arbitrarily revised, not the coordination bill, and at the full meeting, they submitted and passed the bill coordinated between party secretaries, not the one passed by the agenda coordination committee,” adding, “They passed the bill without even knowing what they were reviewing.”

Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok is protesting with members of the People Power Party on the 27th as the partial amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act, containing the 'Geomsu Wanbak' (separation of prosecution investigation and indictment rights), was submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

It was also pointed out as a problem that Min Hyung-bae, a Democratic Party member of the Judiciary Committee, disguised his party resignation and became an independent, then was assigned to the opposition party’s quota in the agenda coordination committee. The fact that a lawmaker who proposed the Geomsu Wanbak bill was included in the opposition party’s quota contradicts the legislative intent of the agenda coordination committee to deliberate on contentious bills. The ‘splitting of sessions’ was also problematic. The People Power Party attempted to delay the bill’s passage by filibustering at the plenary session at 5 p.m., but the Democratic Party countered with a ‘slicing strategy’ by splitting the April extraordinary session into three, ending the filibuster, which could have continued indefinitely, after seven hours.

Floor leader Kwon criticized, “Holding a plenary session less than a day after the bill was processed in the Judiciary Committee is a violation of the National Assembly Act,” and said, “The filibuster, a legal opposition method available to minority parties, was nullified by the Democratic Party’s splitting of sessions. It didn’t even last seven hours before they took it away with proponent debates.”

The People Power Party has filed a provisional injunction to suspend the bill’s effect, but the Democratic Party strongly opposed it as an ‘unconstitutional attempt.’ Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party, counterattacked at the policy coordination meeting that morning, saying, “The provisional injunction filed by the People Power Party denies the separation of powers and the value of the legislature.” He added, “President-elect Yoon Seok-youl and the transition team suddenly propose a referendum that does not meet constitutional requirements. The president, transition team, and prosecution have united as one to defend investigation rights,” emphasizing, “The Democratic Party will conclude the promised reforms to the sovereign through proper procedures and accept the judgment of history and the people, not the judiciary.”

The Democratic Party plans to hold a plenary session on the 30th and process the amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act as the first agenda item. Then, on May 3, at the first agenda of the newly convened extraordinary session, they are expected to process the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, finalizing the passage of the Geomsu Wanbak bill.

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