Ruling party calls police 'accomplices' in Jang Yun-gi case, demands full reinvestigation; opposition draws line on prosecutors' supplementary powers

The Democratic Party of Korea on Saturday called for a full reinvestigation into allegations of investigative misconduct surrounding the case of Jang Yun-gi, convicted of murdering a high school girl in Gwangju, saying that if law enforcement had shielded the perpetrator rather than pursued him, "that is not shoddy investigation — it is complicity carried out under the name of investigation." The party, however, drew a line against the People Power Party's push to use the case as grounds to halt the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers, insisting that police reform must come first.

Democratic Party spokesperson Park Gyeong-mi said in a written briefing Saturday that "a full reinvestigation with no sacred cows, mobilizing every investigative resource available, is necessary," adding that "all those who took part in destroying or omitting evidence must be brought back under investigation, and the substantive truth concealed behind a vast curtain of cover-up must be laid bare without a shadow of doubt."

Park said that as public outrage grew, police had announced measures including the formation of a reform task force and the creation of an internal misconduct investigation unit, but stressed that "what the public demands is not face-saving half-measures." She called for "fundamental police reform that accepts the pain of cutting into one's own flesh."

She added that the Democratic Party "will watch to the end to ensure the reinvestigation proceeds to the standard the public expects," and pledged to "make certain that those who tried to bury the truth with the hand of power are held accountable without fail."

The party's stance reflects a determination to sharply criticize the police over allegations of shoddy investigation and cover-up, while refusing to let those allegations be used as an argument for preserving prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority.

Earlier Saturday, the People Power Party said in a statement that "the Jang Yun-gi case is a vivid illustration of the harms of the police's monopoly on investigative authority," and demanded that "the Democratic Party immediately halt its push to abolish supplementary investigative powers." The PPP argues that prosecutors' supplementary investigative function is necessary as a check on the police.

The Democratic Party, by contrast, views the core issue as internal police misconduct and investigative failures — not the redistribution of investigative authority between prosecutors and police. The party has repeatedly emphasized that establishing accountability within the police organization and pursuing structural reform must take priority, and has kept its distance from calls to expand prosecutorial investigative powers.

Meanwhile, a special investigation team under the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters expanded its probe Saturday, conducting searches and seizures at the offices of the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency chief and the Gwangsan Police Station chief, targeting the chain of investigative command at the time of the case. Inspector A, who had led the criminal investigation team at Gwangsan Police Station handling the case, was earlier taken into detention on charges of destroying evidence. The special team is focusing on whether outside pressure was applied and whether a cover-up occurred throughout the investigation process.