Han Dong-hoon calls Democratic Party's forum on prosecution reform bill 'comedy to the end'

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon sharply criticized the Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday for announcing a forum Monday on the amended Criminal Procedure Act — a bill that strips prosecutors of their supplementary investigation powers and expands grounds for dismissal of indictments — calling the move "comedy to the end."

Han posted the remarks on his Facebook page Sunday afternoon, saying the Democratic Party, which passed what he called the "conservatives-stripped" law — a measure he described as blocking supplementary investigations and shielding wrongdoers from punishment — had no business holding a forum on it.

He said the party was calling the event a "public briefing" while holding it in the Democratic Party floor leader's office, and questioned whether any ordinary citizen would actually be allowed to attend.

The Democratic Party announced it would hold a public briefing on the Criminal Procedure Act amendment Monday at 2 p.m. in the party's floor leader's conference room in the main National Assembly building.

Meanwhile, the Prosecutors' Alumni Association, a group of retired prosecutors, issued a statement Sunday condemning the amendment as "legislative dictatorship and an act of tyranny." The group urged President Lee Jae-myung to exercise his veto power and called on the Constitutional Court to strike down the law as unconstitutional.

The Democratic Party-led National Assembly passed the amended Criminal Procedure Act on Friday. The bill centers on a complete separation of investigation and indictment powers, barring prosecutors from conducting direct investigations.

The amendment also abolishes prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers, leaving them only able to request that judicial police officers conduct supplementary investigations. As a result, prosecutors' investigative authority — introduced when the Criminal Procedure Act was first enacted in 1954 and a cornerstone of South Korea's criminal justice system for 72 years — has been eliminated.