Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
PPP rejects rewritten prosecutorial reform bill amid backlash
People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, left, speaks during the party's supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, Monday. Sitting next to him is PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok. Joint Press Corps
By Nam Hyun-woo
President-elect expresses opposition indirectly
By Nam Hyun-woo
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) has unilaterally withdrawn its endorsement of the compromise version of a controversial prosecutorial reform bill it had agreed to previously with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). The prosecutorial reform bill is aimed at stopping prosecutors from investigating crime cases involving corruption, economic affairs, government employees, elections, the defense industry and large-scale incidents that take the lives of many people.
During the party's supreme council meeting, PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong said that people were particularly worried about sections of the bill that would restrict prosecutors from investigating election crimes and crimes involving public servants. The ruling and opposition parties need to sit down again to discuss the matter and consider the public's worries over the bill, he said.
The move came just days after the PPP and the DPK agreed on the draft bill proposed by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, which was seen as an exit to their month-long confrontation over the DPK's efforts to strip the prosecution of its investigative powers.
According to the compromise version, it strips the prosecution of the powers to open investigations in four out of six major crimes categories within four months from the time when the bill is passed in the Assembly. For the two other categories, corruption and economic crimes, prosecutors will lose their investigative powers after the establishment of an investigative agency similar to the FBI in the U.S.
The compromise plan, however, has drawn a severe backlash from the prosecution and the PPP.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol indirectly expressed his concerns over the bill.
“President-elect Yoon asked politicians to think seriously about constitutional values and people's livelihoods, and then collect their wisdom,” Yoon's spokesperson Bae Hyun-jin said Monday.
Bae said Yoon is unable to express his opinion on the issue from a partisan perspective, but added that “politics cannot beat the public” and that Yoon believes “the massive ruling party (the DPK) will not force through legislation while ignoring public concerns.”
Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of the presidential transition committee, enters the committee's office in Jongno District, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
Unlike Yoon, Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of the presidential transition committee, criticized the PPP and DPK openly and harshly over their compromise on the bill.
“Politicians have exempted themselves from potential investigations by the prosecution,” Ahn said during a committee meeting, Monday. “Can they put their hands on their heart and say this is for the people? … To show the incoming government's commitment to reforms, this issue should be debated again.”
As the PPP's supreme council disapproved the modified bill that its floor leader had reached an agreement over with the DPK's floor leader, the DPK threatened to pass the compromise bill, while some hardliners of the ruling party are calling for the DPK to pass the original bill, which would immediately transfer the authority to start investigations in all six major crime categories from the prosecution to police.
DPK interim chief Yun Ho-jung said during the party's emergency committee meeting, Monday, that his party will not tolerate any attempts to break the agreed-upon compromise. “As soon as the PPP breaks the agreement, we will pass the prosecution reform bill at the Assembly, immediately,” he said.
DPK Rep. Kim Nam-kuk, who is known as one of the strong advocates of the prosecutorial reform, said in a radio interview that “if the compromise bill is unavailable, pushing forward with the original bill could be the plan B.”