Han Dong-hoon warns abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers will spawn more 'Jang Yun-gi cases'

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon on Wednesday criticized the Democratic Party of Korea's push to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers, asking, "Will the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party ultimately side with a murderer?"

Han wrote on his Facebook page that the public was outraged by evidence tampering carried out by the father of Jang Yun-gi — the killer of a high school girl — who was an active-duty police officer. He added that without prosecutors' supplementary investigation, the evidence destruction carried out by the suspect's father and a fellow senior police official would have been buried forever.

Han said the Jang Yun-gi case "starkly illustrates that if only the police are allowed to conduct investigations, countless victims could be wronged."

He said the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party, "consumed by the party leadership election," were pressing ahead with abolishing even the supplementary investigation powers. "Not only has the government already declared its position as 'abolish supplementary investigation powers,' but on Tuesday the Democratic Party once again said the abolition is 'firm and unwavering,'" he said.

Han went on to say that the Democratic Party, which "went into a frenzy invoking prosecutors' 'fabricated indictments' using Lee Hwa-young's 'salmon drinking party' lie as a pretext, stays silent on the police's 'real fabrication.'"

"If things continue this way, after Oct. 2, cases like the Jang Yun-gi incident will emerge one after another," Han said. "Normally, people fix the barn after losing the cow — but the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party are saying they will tear the barn down even more completely and thoroughly after losing the cow."

Han added that if this is how they respond even after seeing the Jang Yun-gi case, "the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party have declared they are fine with South Korea becoming a country where countless 'Jang Yun-gi cases' occur and where no one ever finds out how police buried or covered up cases." He said the country's public safety, built up over many years, was "on the verge of collapsing entirely."

"That is why I ask the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party — who think winning the party convention is all that matters and have no regard for what happens to ordinary citizens' lives afterward: Will you ultimately side with a murderer?" he added.