Han Byung-do vows to convene July extraordinary session, challenges PPP over Assembly boycott

Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said Wednesday the party would convene an extraordinary session of the National Assembly in July, "looking only to the people."

Han made the remarks at a policy coordination meeting that morning at the National Assembly. "Just as there is no pause in the lives of the people, there should be none in the National Assembly," he said.

"We will swiftly convene the extraordinary session and open meetings in at least the 11 standing committees whose chairs have already been elected, to address urgent livelihood issues," he said. "We will focus all of the party's energy on completing state affairs and achieving a great leap forward for South Korea."

Han then challenged the People Power Party, demanding to know why it was refusing the Assembly speaker's authority to assign lawmakers to standing committees and submitting en masse resignations in an attempt to paralyze the Assembly. "You must not boycott even the people's livelihoods," he added.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party announced it would form a task force to revise the Criminal Procedure Act, with the aim of abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers.

"The task force will swiftly work out a plan to fully separate investigative and prosecutorial authority and to abolish supplementary investigation powers — a task demanded by the times," Han said. "Through intense debate and deep deliberation, we will pool all our wisdom and produce a high-quality amendment bill in the shortest possible time." The task force will be organized around the floor leadership, the policy committee and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.