Han Dong-hoon criticizes Democratic Party over bill to strip prosecutors of supplementary investigation powers

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon on Wednesday criticized the Democratic Party of Korea for pushing to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers through an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, saying the party would be "committing a sin against the people" if it passed the bill without the courage to debate it.

Han convened an emergency forum at the National Assembly members' office building under the theme "Banning Supplementary Investigations: Will We Really Take the Side of Criminals?" He said the Democratic Party's real target for revenge was not prosecutors. "It is Lee Chae-won, the victim in the Jang Yun-gi case, and Kim Jin-ju, the victim in the 'Busan spinning kick' case," he said.

Han had earlier sent personal letters to all Democratic Party lawmakers requesting their attendance, but none showed up.

Han also criticized a provision in the amendment that would allow courts to dismiss charges when a serious procedural violation had occurred during an investigation or when prosecutors had brought charges in gross abuse of their discretionary power.

"The Democratic Party has slipped something ugly into the bill," he said. "Withdrawal of charges is only possible through the first trial, but a dismissal ruling can be issued even after the second trial." He framed the provision as part of a three-pronged strategy: "If Plan A is ensuring President Lee Jae Myung avoids prison even after leaving office through charge withdrawal, Plan B is a constitutional amendment allowing re-election, and this move to expand the scope of dismissal rulings is Plan C."

About 10 floor members attended the forum, including People Power Party lawmaker Kim Ki-hyun and several legislators aligned with Han — three-term lawmakers Kim Seong-won and Song Seok-jun, two-term lawmakers Kim Ye-ji, Park Jeong-ha and Bae Hyun-jin, and first-term lawmakers Ko Dong-jin, Jeong Seong-guk and Jin Jong-oh.