Minister Jung Sung-ho of the Ministry of Justice said he would not advise President Lee Jae-myung to exercise the right to request reconsideration of a bill (veto) regarding the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that abolishes prosecutors' authority to conduct direct investigations and supplementary investigations.
On the 29th, Minister Jung appeared at the National Assembly's The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee plenary meeting and answered "It is not something to recommend" to a question from People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo asking whether he would advise the president to exercise the veto.
The Minister said, "It is a matter that was approved by the National Assembly, and we conveyed various concerns during the bill's deliberation and many were reflected, so I do not think there is anything to separately recommend a veto on."
Addressing the point that, if prosecutors' direct supplementary investigation authority disappears, case processing could be delayed while requesting supplementary investigations from the police, he said, "Case delays are a very serious situation," and added, "We will ensure swift compliance with supplementary investigation requests within one month."
When People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun said that advising the National Assembly to revisit the Criminal Procedure Act amendment is the role of an aide who looks out for the president, the Minister answered, "As far as I know, there is no such precedent among close aides to many presidents."
He went on to explain that the Ministry of Justice conveyed to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee concerns arising from the abolition of the supplementary investigation authority—such as case delays and gaps in protecting crime victims—during the bill review process, and that he understood some of these views were reflected and led to legislation.
Earlier, on the 28th, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's First Subcommittee on Bill Review approved the Criminal Procedure Act amendment, led by the Democratic Party of Korea. The key of the amendment is to delete provisions designating prosecutors as investigative subjects, thereby abolishing direct investigations and supplementary investigations.
Instead, prosecutors may request supplementary investigations from the police. The police must complete the supplementary investigation within one month from the date of the request, and if it is difficult to finish the investigation within the period, they may extend it once.
The amendment is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 2, when the Prosecution Service will be abolished and the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Office will be launched.