[Reporter’s Notebook] The 검수완박 Law Missing 'Major Disaster' Clause, Ruling Party Also Hard to Escape Responsibility

On September 27, a public hearing on the constitutional dispute over the amendment bills of the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act was held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The aftermath of the Itaewon disaster, which claimed more than 150 victims, is entangled with the issue of amendments to the Prosecution Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act, known as the ‘Geomsu Wanbak (Complete Removal of Prosecution’s Investigation Rights) Law.’ With the amendment of the Geomsu Wanbak law restricting the prosecution’s investigation rights in major disasters, it ultimately led to controversy over the police conducting a ‘self-investigation.’ Hypothetically, if the Democratic Party of Korea had not pushed through the bill limiting the prosecution’s investigation rights, there might not have been disputes over whether the police should investigate themselves.

Following the major disaster, the ruling and opposition parties are engaged in a blame game over the Geomsu Wanbak law. Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed, “Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, said that among the six major crimes, the crime related to major disasters could be excluded first without hesitation,” and added, “At that time, the People Power Party argued that major disasters happen once in several years at most, so it was acceptable for the prosecution not to handle them.” In response, the ruling party retorted, “Check the minutes of the meeting at that time,” arguing that the original fault lies with the Democratic Party.

As is already known, the passage of the Geomsu Wanbak law occurred when the Democratic Party was the ruling party. Despite opposition from the media and the current ruling party, the Democratic Party, as the majority party holding more than half the seats, ultimately pushed the bill through.

However, it seems the People Power Party cannot solely blame the opposition. Reviewing the ‘Legislation and Judiciary Committee Subcommittee meeting minutes’ that the ruling party referred to at the time reveals that the ruling party also agreed to exclude major disasters from prosecution investigation targets on the grounds that such disasters do not occur frequently. In the April 25 meeting minutes of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee Subcommittee, Park Hyung-soo, a People Power Party lawmaker, mentioned, “When the Democratic Party side proposed removing some of the six major crimes from prosecution, our People Power Party said that corruption cases in defense projects and major disasters do not occur regularly, so even if the police handle these cases, it would not be a big problem, and thus the prosecution decided not to investigate directly.” This suggests that the People Power Party also prioritized abolishing prosecution’s investigation rights in major disasters. The political arena has become fiercely engaged in a blame game. Neither the ruling nor opposition parties seem to have much to say regarding the controversy over the police’s self-investigation.

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