Cho Kuk Announces Major Reform of Power Agencies: "Prosecution Will Be Transformed into an Indictment Office"

Ministry of Strategy and Finance Split into Ministry of Finance and Economy and Budget Office
Reform Plans for Power Institutions Including National Intelligence Service, Board of Audit and Inspection, and Police Revealed

The Homeland Innovation Party has unveiled a power institution reform plan that includes transforming the prosecution into a 'Prosecution Office' and dividing the Ministry of Economy and Finance into the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Office for Planning and Budget.

On this day, Cho Guk, leader of the Homeland Innovation Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly to reveal the power institution reform plan, stating, "We, the Homeland Innovation Party, will ensure irreversible reforms in the 22nd National Assembly so that power institutions such as the prosecution, the Board of Audit and Inspection, and the National Intelligence Service never again forget their duties and act like tools of dictatorship."

Regarding the prosecution, Leader Cho said, "When the National Assembly convenes, we will first and thoroughly achieve prosecution reform," adding, "First, by completing the 'separation of investigation and prosecution,' we will transform the prosecution into a 'Prosecution Office' that only exercises the functions of indictment and maintenance of prosecution." He also promised the implementation of specialized investigation offices such as the Serious Crime Investigation Office, the introduction of a prosecution jury system, the enactment of the 'Lee Seon-gyun Prevention Act' to eradicate the leakage of suspect information by investigative agencies, and the introduction of direct elections for chief prosecutors.

Regarding the Ministry of Economy and Finance, he declared, "The Ministry of Economy and Finance dominates all ministries with the authority of budget formulation and economic policy implementation," and vowed to "control the excessive power of the Ministry of Economy and Finance." To this end, he said, "We will abolish the position of Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and divide the ministry into the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Office for Planning and Budget," adding, "The Ministry of Finance and Economy will oversee fiscal and economic policies, while the Office for Planning and Budget will be solely responsible for the budget." He also stated that through prior consultation systems for budget formulation guidelines, the government and the National Assembly will be able to establish budgets through mutual checks and balances.

Cho Kuk, leader of the National Innovation Party, is holding a press conference on reforming power institutions at the National Assembly on the 27th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding reform of the National Intelligence Service, he said, "We will thoroughly review the NIS's background verification function," adding, "Through this, we will prevent the collection of public officials' personal information under the guise of background checks, civilian surveillance, domestic information gathering, and political interference." He also pledged to monitor whether the NIS maintains counterintelligence investigation functions under the name of consultation or other means. Additionally, he revealed plans to reform the NIS budget system.

Regarding the Board of Audit and Inspection, he said, "We will clarify the constitutional status of the Board of Audit and Inspection through constitutional amendments and transfer the accounting audit function to the National Assembly to secure the practical independence of the accounting audit function." Before constitutional amendments, he stated, "We will codify the appropriate and reasonable scope of accounting audits and duty inspections in the Board of Audit and Inspection Act to eradicate audits with specific political purposes." He also mentioned defining the role of the Secretary-General of the Board of Audit and Inspection to prevent arbitrary actions.

Regarding police reform, he said, "We will abolish the Police Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and restore enforcement ordinances such as investigation guidelines to their legislative intent to enhance the professionalism and capabilities of police investigations in line with the purpose of investigation authority reform."

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