Jung Chung-rae says Assembly speaker likely didn't foresee fallout from constitutional reform remarks, calls him 'weak on details'

Jung Chung-rae, a candidate for the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, said Wednesday that National Assembly Speaker Cho Jung-sik likely did not anticipate the controversy that would follow his remarks describing constitutional amendments — including an extension of the sitting president's term — as "a matter for the sovereign people to decide." Jung said Cho was "probably just saying in principle that he would follow the will of the people" and added that Cho appears to be "a bit weak on details."

Speaking on CBS Radio's "Park Sung-tae's News Show" that morning, Jung said Cho had "played into the hands of the media, giving them something easy to run with." He added that if Cho had simply stated that "it is impossible under Article 128 of the Constitution," the matter would have been settled cleanly, and said he would tell Cho to do better going forward.

Asked about public concerns over a proposed amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure that would abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers, Jung rebuffed the criticism, saying, "There was fierce opposition to the five-day workweek too," and drawing a parallel with pension reform.

He said the full abolition of supplementary investigative powers was "a pledge made to the public during the presidential election," and noted that prosecutors had already been barred from conducting investigations when the bills establishing the Public Prosecution Service and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency were passed. He said remaining concerns had been addressed through measures including an emergency supplementary investigation request mechanism and prosecutors' right to conduct identification interviews.

On allegations of Shincheonji involvement in the party's internal election, Jung said an investigation into why such allegations were raised was unavoidable, adding that it was necessary "even just to announce to the public that the Democratic Party had nothing to do with such things."