| National Election Commission headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province / Newsis |
By Ko Dong-hwan
While lawmakers at the National Assembly are split over the passage of two prosecution reform bills that will overhaul the investigative powers of prosecutors, the repercussions of the clash are spreading beyond the National Assembly.
At the crux of an intensifying debate on the issue is whether or not it is legitimate to hold a referendum to let the public decide whether the bills should be legislated or not. Holding a referendum was suggested by Rep. Chang Je-won, the chief of staff for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol. Chang proposed the bills to be put to a referendum on June 1, when the local elections are held, on the premise of saving both money to prepare for another election and time for people to go to the polling stations.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) have been locking horns for weeks over the prosecutorial reform. The DPK has decided it would work to pass the bills at the National Assembly in order to reduce what it argues is the excessive power wielded by prosecutors, while the PPP is strongly opposed. President Moon Jae-in also sided with the DPK earlier this week, adding to the tense partisan standoff.
In response to the PPP's referendum proposal, the National Election Commission (NEC) said, Wednesday, that a referendum would be unconstitutional because the country's National Voting Law is pending a revision. In 2014, the Constitutional Court singled out a clause that excluded the votes of Korean citizens living overseas when holding a referendum as unconstitutional. Since then, the law has remained unchanged.
As to the NEC's argument that the law must be revised prior to holding a referendum, professors and lawyers are voicing disagreement. A conservative-minded professors' group on April 28 released a joint statement questioning the NEC's argument.
| People Power Party lawmakers stage a protest at the National Assembly, April 27, against the ruling Democratic Party of Korea for trying to pass prosecution reform bills. The posters held by the lawmakers criticize the ruling party for the reform initiative. Joint Press Corps. |
“The NEC is just an agency that ensures fairness in elections and referendums,” the group said. “For them to say holding a referendum is unconstitutional is an act of arrogation against the country's judiciary bodies that ultimately hold the rights to check and determine any flaws behind holding a referendum.”
The group then called for a clear response on whether the NEC's statement came from a single person within the organization or represented its general stance.
Lawyer Shin Pyeong, a former president of the Korean Constitutional Law Association, also questioned the NEC's argument. He posted on Facebook, April 27, that the public must vote on whether most of the prosecutors' powers to investigate criminal cases should be scrapped and instead transferred to the country's police force through the passage of the bills.
Citing a constitutional clause that stated a president has the vested power to hold a referendum to decide on important policies in diplomacy, national defense, unification and other significant state matters, Shin argued that the removal of prosecutors' investigative powers can be categorized under “other significant state matters” because it violates the basic rights of members of the public and disrupts the country's constitutional foundation.
| People Power Party Chairman Rep. Lee Jun-seok speaks during a discussion at the National Assembly about removing prosecutors' investigative powers and transferring them to the police through prosecution reform bills, April 28. Joint Press Corps. |
“The president's call for a referendum can effectively fend off the unfair legislation of the bills at the National Assembly, in a so-called legislative coup,” Shin said.
A judge-turned-lawyer also criticized the NEC's argument, claiming that the president's call to hold a referendum when deemed necessary is an absolute right that can be executed under any circumstances. He said that the “technical error” in the National Voting Law can be spontaneously patched up through administrative measures and cannot be an excuse to object a referendum.
“Allow suffrage to Koreans overseas and that will do for the Constitutional Court's correction,” the lawyer said. “It is hard to understand the NEC citing such an absurd law to dismiss a constitutional term (that entitles a president to hold a referendum).”
Shortly after midnight on Thursday, the DPK ended the PPP's filibuster to block the bills, sending one of the bills to a plenary vote on Saturday this week. On Wednesday afternoon, as soon as a plenary National Assembly session opened, the PPP immediately launched the filibuster, which was led by Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, the party's floor leader. But the filibuster ended at midnight as the DPK, which holds 171 out of 300 National Assembly seats, voted for an early end of the parliamentary session, which can end a filibuster.
By law, a bill that was subject to a filibuster will be automatically put to a vote three days after the filibuster tactic ends. That means a revision to the Prosecutors' Office Act, one of the two prosecution reform bills, will be put to a plenary vote on Saturday.
| Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Ahn Min-seok speaks in favor of the reform bill to separate prosecutors' indictment and investigative powers in the filibuster session during a plenary meeting at the National Assembly, April 27. Newsis |
Rep. Kim Jong-min and Rep. Ahn Min-seok of the DPK, taking the floor at the National Assembly during Wednesday's filibuster, justified the bills. Rep. Kim, calling for a “democratic judiciary” and an end to the ongoing political conflict, said, “All investigators should be under control without exception.” Rep. Ahn said “politically driven prosecutors” are burrowed under President-elect Yoon's incoming administration, ready to launch investigations according to Yoon's personal vendetta against the Moon administration.
The PPP, determined to hold a referendum that can possibly block the bills, started brainstorming to revise the law to hold a referendum. PPP Chairman Rep. Lee Jun-seok, after the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly on Thursday, highlighted the presidential transition committee's role of supporting his party to push ahead with a referendum. PPP Rep. Sung Il-jong, appearing on a CBS radio show the same day, said that the National Assembly has neglected to revise the Constitution and said it now appears necessary for his party to work on it.
“The fastest way to hold a referendum is revising the law at the National Assembly,” Yoon's chief of staff Rep. Chang also said Thursday.
“We can just take care of that voters' list problem,” he told reporters in front of the presidential transition committee's office in Seoul's Jongno District. “Then, revising the law wouldn't be such a hard nut to crack.”
During Saturday's plenary session at the National Assembly, the DPK is expected to introduce another reform bill, a revision to the Criminal Procedure Act. If the PPP launches another filibuster, the DPK is expected to use the same tactic to end it. In that case, the bill will automatically be put to a plenary vote on Tuesday.
The DPK plans to complete all legislative procedures for the bills at the last Cabinet meeting of outgoing President Moon Jae-in on May 3.