Seo Young-kyo, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker who chairs the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly, said she would place a bill to amend the Criminal Procedure Act to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority on the agenda of a subcommittee next week. She noted the aim is to move quickly, as both the party and the government have mentioned a full abolition of the supplementary investigation authority.
After finishing a press conference at the National Assembly press center on the afternoon of the 2nd, Seo met with reporters and said, "Next week we will form the subcommittee and place the committee's own bills on the agenda," adding, "The bills to be placed include the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act."
She continued, "The amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act has been agreed by both the government and the party to completely wrap up the supplementary investigation authority," and added, "We will craft a bill that gives no worries to the vulnerable and minority victims, and a bill that prevents wrongful accusations. Prosecutors will focus on indictment authority, and for the police, if they run amok, we will create mechanisms to take action."
Seo also explained, "Because the Public Prosecution Office Act and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency Act must take effect on Oct. 2, it basically takes quite a lot of time to draw up the enforcement decree and enforcement rules," adding, "There is already an assessment that we are a bit late, so we will move as fast as possible, and the government will simultaneously draft the enforcement decree so that there is no gap period."
She added, "In cases where the statute of limitations, as President Lee Jae-myung said, has little time left, and when police investigations do not proceed properly, there is a need to provide checks and to be able to replace the investigation team, so we will establish several mechanisms, including an investigation review committee," and said, "Because we are doing this anew, we will listen sufficiently but act quickly. That is how proper implementation happens."