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🇰🇷 South Korea /Elections & Politics

Lawmakers counter claims that revised law unfairly benefits President Lee

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Lawmakers from the Democratic Party, the Jo Guk Innovation Party, and the Progressive Party refuted the People Power Party's claims that a revised criminal procedure law unfairly benefits President Lee Jae-myung.
  • They argued that the revision merely clarifies existing Supreme Court precedents on dismissing public prosecution, citing past rulings that supported such dismissals.
  • The opposition party accused the ruling bloc of distorting facts and engaging in political attacks, urging them to participate in normalizing the criminal justice system.

Lawmakers from the Democratic Party, the Jo Guk Innovation Party, and the Progressive Party on Tuesday refuted claims by the People Power Party that a revised criminal procedure law unfairly benefits President Lee Jae-myung. They asserted that the amendment clarifies legal principles already established by the Supreme Court regarding the dismissal of public prosecutions.

The People Power Party is advancing only a false narrative without properly examining the bill.

— Democratic Party, Jo Guk Innovation Party, Progressive Party lawmakersLawmakers from opposition parties accused the People Power Party of misrepresenting a revised criminal procedure law.

The People Power Party had criticized the revision, which passed the Legislation and Judiciary Committee the previous day, for expanding the grounds for dismissing public prosecutions. They alleged it was designed to nullify President Lee's ongoing trial. However, Democratic Party lawmakers Seo Young-kyo, Kim Seung-won, Lee Sung-yoon, and Kim Yong-min, along with Jo Guk Innovation Party lawmaker Park Eun-jeong and Progressive Party lawmaker Son Sol, held a press conference stating, "The People Power Party is advancing only a false narrative without properly examining the bill."

They cited Supreme Court rulings from 2008 (regarding entrapment in soliciting karaoke hostesses) and 2021 (regarding retaliatory prosecution of a defector witness in a fabricated espionage case) as examples where dismissals were upheld. The proposed amendment, they explained, incorporates these established legal precedents. The lawmakers criticized the People Power Party's characterization of the amendment as a "midnight insertion," calling it a "political offensive based on ignoring facts."

The revision merely clarifies legal principles already established by the Supreme Court regarding the dismissal of public prosecutions.

— Democratic Party, Jo Guk Innovation Party, Progressive Party lawmakersLawmakers explained that the amendment codifies existing Supreme Court precedents.

Regarding the omission of this specific provision from the Democratic Party's official task force proposal on criminal procedure law, Kim Seung-won, the Democratic Party's floor leader in the committee, explained that the party's core focus was on the separation of investigative and prosecutorial powers. He stated that the dismissal of public prosecution was not considered a core element for the party's official stance.

People Power Party's characterization of the amendment as a 'midnight insertion,' calling it a 'political offensive based on ignoring facts.'

— Democratic Party, Jo Guk Innovation Party, Progressive Party lawmakersThe lawmakers criticized the opposition's framing of the legislative process.

Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo dismissed as "absurd" the suggestion that the provision could affect President Lee's ongoing trial. Meanwhile, People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jin-seok reiterated his party's opposition, calling the amendment another "poisonous clause" aimed at "canceling President Lee's criminal trial" and alleging a "political secret deal between the President, who seeks to erase his criminal trial, and the hardline faction of the Democratic Party, which seeks to eliminate prosecutors."

absurd

— Seo Young-kyoThe Committee Chair dismissed the idea that the revised law could impact President Lee's ongoing trial.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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