Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon on the 19th criticized the bill pushed by the Democratic Party of Korea to abolish the "prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority," saying, "In the world the Democratic Party has made, police will be able to arrest citizens 'without warrants' indefinitely, without looking over their shoulders at anyone or facing any checks," and added, "We must stop this kind of world." He said that as the Democratic Party promotes a law stripping prosecutors of their supplementary investigation authority, it also changed the rule so that after an emergency arrest, police need only give "post-reporting" instead of obtaining a prosecutor's "approval."
Han wrote on Facebook the same day, "While pushing this time to prohibit (prosecutors') supplementary investigations, the Democratic Party quietly made it so that police don't even need to obtain a prosecutor's approval after an emergency arrest (they quietly changed approval to simple post-reporting)," adding, "There is another 'bomb' the Democratic Party hid: 'unlimited allowance of police emergency arrests without warrants.'"
He particularly said that the "check mechanism" on police would collapse, making citizen harm unavoidable. Han said, "Right now, if police arrest a citizen without a warrant, they must immediately (within 12 hours) obtain a prosecutor's approval, and if they fail to obtain it, they must release the person," adding, "Police emergency arrests without warrants will inevitably be abused."
He then shared a related example article. It said that Inspector A of the Yeongdeungpo Police Station conducted an emergency arrest of a suspect in a special theft case who voluntarily appeared, even though the requirements were not met, and that the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office indicted Inspector A without detention on charges including abuse of authority and unlawful arrest. The prosecution said it confirmed the illegality through supplementary investigation by analyzing materials such as phone call logs and visit records.
As the "abolition of supplementary investigation authority" emerged as a major political issue, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Geon-tae, who had initially agreed to a TV debate with Han, said within a day that he would not participate. The debate was ultimately canceled. Han said the broadcaster sounded out appearances by other Democratic Party lawmakers but found no one willing to take part, adding, "I was informed that, due to circumstances, my solo appearance has become difficult."