Bipartisan compromise on bill starts falling apart

Politics

Published: 24 Apr. 2022, 17:57 Updated: 24 Apr. 2022, 18:11

Bipartisan compromise on bill starts falling apart

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, center, poses for a photo with the ruling and opposition floor leaders after the Democratic Party and People Power Party accepted his compromise on a bill at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, Friday. [NEWS1]

A bipartisan compromise on a controversial bill that would strip the prosecution of its investigative powers appears to be in peril after main opposition People Power Party (PPP) leader Lee Jun-seok signaled his rejection of the bill.

In a post uploaded to his Facebook page Sunday, Lee wrote that although his party's leadership agreed to the deal with the DP, he believed the bill contained "serious inconsistencies" and that it would be "a stretch" to support it in its current form.

Lee's comments were echoed by Ahn Cheol-soo, chief of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's transition team, who said at a Sunday press briefing that there was a "conflict of interest" if "politicians seek to avoid being probed by prosecutors by stripping the prosecution of its investigative powers."

According to the compromise proposed by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seung and agreed to Friday by the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the PPP, prosecutors would retain the power to conduct direct investigations and seek indictments, and the prosecution would temporarily maintain its investigative rights.

Prosecutors' investigation rights would continue to cover two types of major crimes dealing with corruption and economic crimes, reducing the number from the current six.

The state prosecution service's investigative powers would still be abolished, however, pending the formation of a major criminal investigative agency like the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other investigative agencies improving their capabilities to a "certain level."

The powers and criminal jurisdiction invested in the new agency hinge on what lawmakers in a special judicial reform committee agree upon, setting the scene for a potential clash.

The committee, which will be composed of seven DP lawmakers, five PPP lawmakers and one non-aligned lawmaker — likely to be chosen from the minor progressive Justice Party — will be chaired by a DP member and formed as soon as the compromise bill is passed by a full floor vote of the National Assembly on Thursday or Friday.

While the parties agreed to pass a bill establishing the new investigative agency within six months, that process could drag on if the PPP withdraws from the deal, or if the special judicial committee members are unable to agree on the new agency's powers.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho District, southern Seoul remains lit on Friday evening, shortly after the state prosecution service's leadership resigned en masse in response to the bipartisan compromise bill on prosecution reform. [YONHAP]

A DP official who spoke to Yonhap on condition of anonymity told the agency on Sunday that it is necessary "to prepare democratic checks on a new major criminal investigative agency, which could become [another] powerful institution, as well as a law stipulating its investigative process."

One of the major criticisms lobbed against the state prosecution service by the ruling party is that the powerful law enforcement agency uses its investigative powers to conduct probes of political rivals.

The DP appears keen to avoid creating a similar institution.

The establishment of an agency that would inherit the prosecution's remaining investigative powers also raises questions about whether the powers of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) and the anti-graft team currently operating under the police's National Investigation Headquarters should be transferred to the new agency.

Should talks on the new agency's jurisdiction and authority drag on, the fate of the prosecution service's investigative powers would also be left uncertain.

Meanwhile, the country's top prosecutors responded to the compromise bill by offering to resign en masse, with Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo, his deputy and the chiefs of all six high prosecutors' offices across the country submitting their resignations on Friday.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]