Legislation Committee, Legitimacy of 'Complete Prosecution Reform' Debated: Ruling Party Says "Protecting Moon and Lee" vs Opposition Claims "Tainted by Political Propaganda"

DPRK, "We Will Protect Moon Jae-in and Lee Jae-myung," Park Hong-geun's Floor Leader Policy Speech Draws Attention Again
"The Complete Prosecution Reform Law Aims to Prevent Investigations of Opposition Figures"
Opposition, "Malicious Editing," "Complete Prosecution Reform? Term Does Not Match Reality"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 17th, the ruling and opposition parties clashed over the constitutional dispute regarding 'Geomsu Wanbak (Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights)' during the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit targeting the Constitutional Court. The People Power Party pointed out problems with the opposition's intention and process of forcibly passing the Geomsu Wanbak law, while the Democratic Party countered that such claims are 'political attacks' and argued that the Ministry of Justice's revision of the enforcement decree for 'Geomsu Wonbok (Restoration of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights)' contradicts the original legislative intent of 'reducing prosecutorial investigation rights' agreed upon by lawmakers from both parties.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The audit session began with People Power Party lawmaker Jo Su-jin playing a video of Floor Leader Park Hong-geun saying, "We will definitely protect former President Moon Jae-in and Senior Advisor Lee Jae-myung."

Jo explained, "It was reported that there was strong opposition to Geomsu Wanbak even within the Democratic Party's Special Committee on Prosecutorial Reform. Minister Park Beom-gye also said, 'It is important to gain public sympathy,' and that prosecutors need not worry much. However, right after President Yoon Seok-yeol was elected, Floor Leader Park Hong-geun suddenly declared that they would protect former President Moon Jae-in and Senior Advisor Lee Jae-myung from prosecution, and subsequently, the Geomsu Wanbak law was adopted as the party's official stance and pushed forward."

He added, "The Geomsu Wanbak law should be seen as having the purpose of blocking investigations into former President Moon and Leader Lee."

He also criticized the fact that during the Geomsu Wanbak process, lawmaker Min Hyung-bae left the Democratic Party and joined the agenda adjustment committee as an independent member, calling it problematic.

People Power Party lawmaker Park Hyung-soo said, "The agenda adjustment committee was created to guarantee the rights of minority parties. The original intent was to allow sufficient discussion within the committee, but if the majority party caused one of its lawmakers to leave and join the committee as an independent member, this is an act that directly violates the constitutional order." He then referred to the splitting of the session to block filibusters, emphasizing, "Due to serious procedural flaws, the law itself should naturally be declared invalid in the constitutional dispute trial."

Lawmaker Jo also claimed that Min's departure was a 'sham resignation' and a 'collusive act,' arguing, "It corresponds to a fraudulent agreement under civil law and is therefore invalid."

Fellow party member Yoo Sang-beom supported these claims, saying that the Democratic Party only emphasizes the 'legislative purpose' of the Geomsu Wanbak law but does not explain the actual reason for proposing the bill.

Yoo said, "The Democratic Party says the legislative intent is to 'limit prosecutorial investigation rights,' but the important thing is that they do not explain why the bill needs to be proposed. It is because if the regime changes, they themselves could be investigated."

On the other hand, the Democratic Party countered that the ruling party is forcibly linking Floor Leader Park's remarks to the Geomsu Wanbak law, calling it a malicious framing.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kwon Chil-seung said, "What Floor Leader Park said was during his floor leader election campaign speech. The video completely ignores the context. The content before that was about 'Yoon's lack of communication and hostile attitude toward the Democratic Party being serious, and that they would fight if prosecutorial overreach became a reality.'" He rebutted, "Linking this to the Geomsu Wanbak law is a malicious patchwork."

Kwon emphasized, "Looking at the actual intent of Geomsu Wanbak, it is about reducing prosecutorial investigation rights, but the term 'Wanbak (complete removal)' was used. According to the original agreement between the two parties, the prosecution's direct investigation rights were temporary, and once response capabilities reached a certain level, direct investigation rights would be abolished. The current law is less severe than that." He also noted, "Moreover, nearly 300 lawmakers agreed on this at the time."

Lawmaker Choi Kang-wook said, "The People Power Party keeps repeating politically motivated statements that do not match the reality of the 'Geomsu Wanbak law' and tries to contaminate the constitutional court. I ask the constitutional justices to consider this seriously and carefully."

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