The 22nd National Assembly's second half barely found its footing after 54 days, but the political landscape is hardening rapidly as the ruling and opposition parties dig in on a series of contentious issues.
The People Power Party is weighing a filibuster to block a Criminal Procedure Act amendment that would abolish the police's supplementary investigation authority, while the Democratic Party of Korea has signaled it may rewrite filibuster rules and push the bill through the fast-track process — raising the prospect of an even sharper confrontation.
At a floor strategy meeting Tuesday, Han Byung-do, acting Democratic Party leader and floor leader, said "the PPP is stoking public anxiety and distorting public opinion by equating prosecutorial authority with public safety," adding that the party must "stop its irresponsible political offensive aimed at obscuring the essence of prosecution reform."
Han said the Democratic Party would "prepare airtight alternatives to better protect the socially vulnerable and victims, and to maintain the overall volume of state investigations," and pledged that "we will also pursue sweeping reform of both the prosecution and police in line with public expectations."
PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik pushed back at his own floor strategy meeting Tuesday, saying the Democratic Party had described the Criminal Procedure Act amendment as "'an alternative that expands victim protection and strengthens mutual checks between the prosecution and police'" — then asking why, if the bill were so sound, Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho had announced he would resign rather than continue the prosecution reform. "Is it not because he fears being held responsible for the wave of crime that will follow?"
Jeong said, "Is creating a single dedicated supplementary investigation unit an adequate alternative after upending the entire criminal justice system? The Democratic Party intends to dump all the resulting chaos onto that unit and quietly escape accountability." He added: "The Democratic Party bears full responsibility for abolishing supplementary investigation authority. Do our citizens look like lab rats to you?"
The Democratic Party plans to pass the Criminal Procedure Act amendment at a plenary session scheduled for Thursday. The two parties clashed sharply over the abolition of supplementary investigation authority at a full meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Monday, and continued their heated debate at the committee's first legislative review subcommittee meeting Tuesday.
On the sentencing of former President Yoon Suk Yeol — handed a suspended sentence of one year and six months in prison with a three-year probation period on Monday on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act — the Democratic Party urged the PPP to "immediately apologize to the public for fielding Yoon Suk Yeol, who fraudulently seized the presidency, as its candidate, and move to return 39.7 billion won ($27.1 million) in election expenses." The PPP fired back: "No one is above the law. The President Lee Jae Myung case on the publication of false information has already been ruled on by the Supreme Court — there is no reason for further delay."
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