The Democratic Party of Korea decided to bring to a floor vote, as originally passed by The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the so-called "three major judicial reform bills," centered on the offenses of legal distortion, a retrial petition system, and increasing the number of Supreme Court justices. Along with this, the party adopted as its official position the government's revised bills to establish the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Prosecution Agency.
Park Soo-hyun, the Democratic Party of Korea's Senior Spokesperson, told reporters on the 22nd that this was decided through a general assembly of lawmakers held at the National Assembly that day. Park said, "On the three judicial reform bills, we reached a consensus to handle them at the plenary session as passed by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee."
The Democratic Party of Korea also set a plan to keep the plenary session open from the 24th to Mar. 3 to handle reform and livelihood bills. Kim Hyun-jung, the party's floor Spokesperson, said the February extraordinary session "runs until Mar. 3," adding, "There are many bills to handle, and with the People Power Party having signaled a filibuster (unlimited debate to obstruct proceedings), there is a high possibility the plenary session will continue from the 24th to the 3rd." Kim said that at the plenary session on the 24th, the consent motion to arrest independent lawmaker Kang Sun-woo, for whom an arrest warrant was requested over alleged "nomination bribe" funds, is among the items slated for a vote.
Among the Democratic Party of Korea's three major judicial reform bills, the offense of legal distortion is an amendment to the Criminal Act that provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years or disqualification of up to 10 years in cases such as: ▲ intentionally misapplying statutes ▲ using concealed or forged evidence in trials or investigations ▲ unlawfully collecting evidence or recognizing criminal facts without evidence.
The retrial petition system is an amendment to the Constitutional Court Act that would include court trials, which had been excluded from the scope of constitutional complaint review, within the scope of adjudication. The plan to increase Supreme Court justices is an amendment to the Court Organization Act that would raise the number of justices from the current 14 by 12 to 26. These bills have passed the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and are currently placed on the agenda for the plenary session.
Park, the Senior Spokesperson, said, "In the sense of going through sufficient deliberation, we again gathered the prevailing view on the committee's original bill," adding, "There was no disagreement among lawmakers about handling the bills at this plenary session." On certain provisions of the legal distortion offense that some said could be unconstitutional, Park said, "They will not be revised."
Kim, the floor Spokesperson, explained that, through the plenary session, the party aims to handle not only the three judicial reform bills but also eight bills by Mar. 3, including ▲ the integration bill for Gwangju in South Jeolla, Daegu–North Gyeongsang, and South Chungcheong–Daejeon ▲ the third amendment to the Commercial Act ▲ the amendment to the Child Allowance Act ▲ the amendment to the National Referendum Act ▲ the amendment to the Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act ▲ the amendment to the Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act. Kim added, "There are more than 200 other livelihood bills to handle," and said, "We will keep proposing to the opposition to handle as many of these as possible at the plenary session on the 24th and will make a special effort to see this through."
The Democratic Party of Korea also adopted as its official position the government's revised bills to establish the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Prosecution Agency, reflecting the party's input. Earlier, the party had proposed to the government a revision direction that would unify the personnel structure of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and exclude from its investigative scope three of the nine categories in the government's plan — ▲ major disasters ▲ crimes by public officials ▲ election crimes.
Park, the Senior Spokesperson, said, "We adopted the government bill as the party line, and instead the Legislation and Judiciary Committee can make technical adjustments on detailed parts through coordination with the floor leadership," adding, "The party line was adopted as a compromise to create some breathing room."