| President Moon Jae-in bangs the gavel to open a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. It was the last Cabinet meeting of Moon's presidency, and he approved two prosecutorial reform bills which are aimed at limiting prosecutors' investigative powers. Yonhap |
Main opposition party criticizes Moon for 'colluding' with ruling party to avoid investigation afterwards
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Moon Jae-in signed into law bills aimed at limiting prosecutors' investigative powers, snubbing protests from prosecutors and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).
During a Cabinet meeting, Tuesday, Moon approved revised bills of the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act, which were passed by the National Assembly on April 30 and Tuesday, respectively.
"Despite the government's achievements to help authorities to be faithful to their roles, there are concerns about the prosecution's political neutrality, fairness and selective justice," Moon said during the meeting. "I believe this is why the National Assembly took a step forward to separate prosecutors' investigative powers from their authority to indict."
As the bills were promulgated at the Cabinet meeting, they will take effect in four months.
The two revisions are the crux of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) prosecution reform drive.
The revised Prosecutors' Office Act will allow prosecutors to open investigations only on corruption and economic crimes, and the revised Criminal Procedure Act is aimed at limiting the authority of prosecutors in investigating criminal cases.
After passing the revision to the Prosecutors' Office Act on April 30, the National Assembly approved the Criminal Procedure Act revision, with 164 out of 174 attending lawmakers approving it in a plenary session which lasted for only 3 minutes. This was possible because the DPK holds 173 seats, a majority in the Assembly.
Initially, Moon planned to hold the Cabinet meeting at 10 a.m., Tuesday, but postponed it to 2 p.m., in order to give time for the Assembly to pass the Criminal Procedure Act revision. It was the outgoing president's last Cabinet meeting held before his departure from the presidency on May 9.
Incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol, who used to be prosecutor general, has already said that he would veto the prosecutorial reform bills.
| People Power Party floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, center, holds a document asking President Moon Jae-in to veto prosecutorial reform bills during a rally in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps |
The main opposition PPP has condemned the prosecutorial reform bills, claiming they are aimed at protecting Moon and former officials of the Moon government from possible investigations by prosecutors. But proponents of the reform bills claim they will limit prosecutors from abusing their authority for political purposes.
"President Moon should convince the public of the reason why he seeks to pass the bills at the end of his presidency, and what are the benefits for the people," PPP floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong said during a rally in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday.
"We should think of why the DPK is striving to pass the bills despite using mean tricks. … While persuading lawmakers, a DPK member said at least 20 members of the party may go to jail (if the bills are not passed). This is the nature of the party's effort to strip prosecutors of their investigative rights."
To pass the bills, the DPK used the so-called "salami tactic," which is cutting the plenary session into shorter one-day sessions. Due to this, the PPP's efforts to stop the dominant ruling party from unilaterally passing the bills through filibusters ended in vain.
Prosecutors also staged protests against the promulgation of the prosecutorial reform bills.
"If the revised acts go into effect, they will prevent petitioners' from filing objections to a case which was not sent to the prosecution. This will impede whistle blowers and civic groups from filing petitions for a good cause," the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said in a statement. "Most civic groups, members of academia and legal experts are opposing the bills because of that problem."
The objection that the prosecution was referring to was petitioners' rights to appeal when police decide not to send a case to the prosecution. In the current Criminal Procedure Act, a petitioner can file their objection and ask the prosecution to look into the case, even if police decided not to send it to prosecutors. In the revised act, however, this can be only filed by a plaintiff, who is directly involved in the case, and other petitioners, such as civic groups, cannot file this.