The Democratic Party of Korea is accelerating amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act centered on fully abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority. The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee will hold meetings for three straight days to place the Criminal Procedure Act on the plenary agenda. In connection with renewed controversy over poor police investigations in the "Jang Yoon-gi case," following the "Choi Young-jung case," the party said it will put in place safeguards to protect victims.
The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the morning of the 22nd held the first subcommittee on bill review at the National Assembly and reviewed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act proposed by Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers Seo Young-kyo and Hong Ki-won and People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig. Including that day, the committee plans to convene subcommittee meetings on the 22nd–23rd to speed up the bill review.
Kim Seung-won, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker who serves as the ruling camp's secretary on the committee and chair of the first subcommittee, told reporters after the review, "We heard opinions from the Ministry of Justice, the National Court Administration, and the committee's legislative counsel and examined the key points of each amendment," adding, "With this, we have completed a first reading of the currently introduced amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act."
He added, "We will hold the first bill subcommittee at 10 a.m. on the 23rd to continue a combined review with other bills, and we will resume the subcommittee right after the adjournment of the plenary session the same day to keep examining the issues in each amendment. We will focus on drafting alternative provisions."
Still, concerns persist about a potential "investigative vacuum" from abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority. In the "Jang Yoon-gi case," involving the murder of a Gwangju high school girl and exposing alleged police evidence destruction, as well as in the case of former Cheongju City Council member Choi Young-jung, accused of child prostitution, issues such as "delayed investigations" and "poor warrant applications" by police have been raised, fueling considerable opposition to fully abolishing the supplementary investigation authority.
The Democratic Party plans to focus on victim protections and boosting investigative capacity. Kim said, "We will digitize investigative records, store them at a data center, and build a system to verify everything upon request by parties to a case or by prosecutors," adding, "We will prepare checklists and manuals for each type of crime so results do not vary based on an investigator's capabilities."
Kim continued, "There have been too many cases in which prosecutors, holding investigative powers, infringed on human rights, so we must first see whether there are alternatives to prevent abuse when it comes to prosecutors' supplementary investigations," adding, "But it seems no one has yet offered such an alternative."
The Democratic Party of Korea plans to pass the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act at a plenary session before the Aug. 17 party convention. With concerns emerging inside and outside the party over fully abolishing the supplementary investigation authority, the view is that delays would only add confusion. Even if the People Power Party returns to the committee and voices opposition, the party appears set to push the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act through.
Kim Yong-min, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the committee, said, "Since we have full verbatim records of the meetings, I hope People Power Party lawmakers will read them carefully before they come in," adding, "It is hard to accept starting the discussion from scratch as a 'delaying tactic' under the claim that there was no debate."