The Democratic Party of Korea will hold a public hearing on the 20th to discuss the government's released advance notice of legislation for the Public Prosecution Office and the High-Ranking Crimes Investigation Agency (Jung Su Cheong). As President Lee Jae-myung has requested deliberation on "prosecution reform," the intent is to also hear from experts.
Moon Geum-ju, floor spokesperson for the Democratic Party, met with reporters on the morning of the 15th after a policy coordination meeting and said, "Under the auspices of the Policy Committee, we are planning a public hearing at 10:30 a.m. on the 20th on the government bills to establish the Public Prosecution Office and the High-Ranking Crimes Investigation Agency."
She added, "Today (the 15th), we will hold a general meeting of policy lawmakers to gather individual lawmakers' opinions," noting, "Once the opinions are consolidated, the process will proceed to submitting the opinions to the government."
The Democratic Party's opinion-gathering procedure follows the president's instruction. Earlier, on the 13th, the presidential office announced through a notice that "(the president) instructed that the party conduct sufficient discussion and deliberation on prosecution reform and supplementary investigative authority, and that the government collect those opinions."
Han Byung-do, the Democratic Party's floor leader, said at the policy coordination meeting that "the party-government-presidential office philosophy of complete separation of investigation and indictment to establish the High-Ranking Crimes Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Office is an unassailable fundamental principle to return prosecution reform to the people," adding, "The president asked for sufficient deliberation on prosecution reform. Through public hearings with the people, we will complete prosecution reform in line with the public's expectations."