Kang Il-won, Former Constitutional Court Justice, "Prosecutor's Complete Control Bill Has Issues in Victim Protection" (Comprehensive)

Former Justice Kang Criticizes Legislation Process of Prosecution Reform... "Exclusion of Public Opinion"
Human Rights Commission: "Criminal Justice System Must Align with Constitution... Procedures Must Also Comply with Constitution"

Kang Il-won, Chairman of the Prosecutors' Human Rights Committee (former Constitutional Court Justice), is delivering a greeting at the 5th meeting of the Prosecutors' Human Rights Committee held on the afternoon of the 28th at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] Kang Il-won, former Constitutional Court Justice who presided over the impeachment trial of former President Park Geun-hye, criticized the 'Prosecutorial Authority Reform Act' (검수완박 law) saying, "There may be issues with victim protection."

Kang, chairman of the Prosecutorial Human Rights Committee, expressed concerns at the committee meeting held on the 28th at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, stating, "The current criminal law amendment may be advantageous for protecting suspects, but there could be problems regarding victim protection."

He added, "It is true that throughout our constitutional history, the prosecution has betrayed the public's expectations by siding with a small group of powers and abusing its authority," and said, "As a reflection on this, legislation has been enacted over the past few years to significantly limit the prosecution's investigative powers and to ease the principle of exclusive prosecution."

Former Justice Kang also criticized the Democratic Party of Korea's legislative process for the Prosecutorial Authority Reform Act. He said, "Before proper implementation of institutional improvements, legislation that completely changes the framework of criminal justice is proceeding at an incomprehensible pace and through procedures that are difficult to understand," and pointed out, "The current criminal law amendment, which is being pushed forward unilaterally by the ruling party in the National Assembly without gathering public opinion, may be favorable for suspect protection but could pose problems for victim protection."

The day before, National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok submitted the Prosecutorial Authority Reform Act to the plenary session of the National Assembly, which aims to reduce the scope of direct prosecution by the prosecution to corruption and economic crimes and separate prosecutors in charge of prosecution from those in charge of investigation.

At the Human Rights Commission meeting that day, discussions were held from various perspectives, including legal and practical viewpoints, focusing on the protection of citizens' human rights in criminal procedures in relation to the ongoing promotion of the Prosecutorial Authority Reform Act in the National Assembly.

After about two hours of discussion, the Human Rights Commission issued a recommendation stating, "Regarding the rapidly progressing criminal law amendment, the Human Rights Commission, which has reviewed and advised on prosecutorial work methods, expresses concern," and noted, "It has been only a short time since the previous criminal law amendments aimed at checks and balances on prosecutorial power, including the reduction of direct prosecution and investigation supervision by the prosecution and the easing of exclusive prosecution, were implemented."

It continued, "The state's investigative authority is an essential power to protect citizens' fundamental rights, but at the same time, it is a powerful authority that can infringe upon those rights," emphasizing, "Matters related to the criminal justice system must be structured and operated in accordance with the Constitution and its spirit, and the legislative procedures to concretize this must also comply with constitutional principles."

The Human Rights Commission also stated that if the bill is pushed forward hastily with insufficient public consultation, it would be difficult to gain legitimacy. The commission urged, "We hope that the criminal law amendment will be pursued through careful discussion so that it can gain public consensus and trust and better protect citizens' human rights."

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