A former chief prosecutor said Saturday that presidential candidates should not politicize the issue of investigative rights of the prosecution and police as campaign pledges ahead of the December election.
Former Prosecutor-General Kim Joon-gyu stepped down from his post in July 2011 in protest over the parliamentary approval of a contentious bill that prosecutors claim limits their investigatory power. The resignation came less than two months before his term was scheduled to end in mid-August.
"It is undesirable that the dispute over investigative rights of the prosecution and police is emerging as a hot-button issue during an election period (for the Dec. 19 presidential election)," Kim said in an interview with news Y, Yonhap News Agency's all-news cable channel.
The prosecution and police initially reached a compromise under government mediation to end the dispute over investigative rights, agreeing to empower police to open investigations under the broad supervision of prosecutors.
But lawmakers on June 30 passed a revision of the criminal procedural law that could allow police to open investigations on their own while weakening prosecutors' previously tight grip on police probes.
"The issue of investigative rights is not something that should be defined by politics or decided based on popularity," Kim said. "It is better to discuss the issue after the new president is elected."
How to coordinate investigative authority between the prosecution and police has resurfaced recently as major presidential candidates have addressed the issue as part of their campaign pledges to reform the prosecution. (Yonhap)