Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Geon-tae. [Yonhap]
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Geon-tae. [Yonhap]

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Geon-tae canceled Saturday a planned bilateral debate with independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon over abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers, just one day after agreeing to hold it.

Lee announced the cancellation on Facebook, saying he had concluded that "ignoring the wishes and concerns of party members who support us is not right" and that he would not proceed with the debate.

The dispute began Thursday when Han, a former prosecutor, proposed to the Democratic Party that they "publicly debate why abolishing supplementary investigation powers runs counter to the public interest."

Lee, also a former prosecutor, accepted Friday, saying he would "explain one by one, before the public, why prosecutors should not be allowed to take over investigative powers," and the debate appeared set.

Lee, who also served as a defense attorney in the Daejang-dong case, said Saturday that he had agreed to the debate because he believed "Han Dong-hoon, together with Yoon Suk Yeol, led politically motivated prosecutions and fabricated indictments." He added that he "wanted to hold him clearly accountable before the public."

Lee is currently running for a supreme council member seat at the party's Aug. 17 national convention.

Han fired back, saying Lee "ran away on the eve of the debate" and that Democratic Party politicians and some supporters had pressured Lee to back out because "it looked like he would be completely outmatched."

Han also addressed JTBC, which had been set to broadcast the debate, saying that since "not a single Democratic Party lawmaker has the courage," he asked the network's anchors or reporters to pose questions from the position opposing supplementary investigations so he could "explain to the public himself."

In a separate Facebook post, Lee argued that "leaving supplementary investigation powers with prosecutors to keep the police in check is not the answer," calling instead for systemic changes to prevent shoddy police investigations. He proposed measures including strengthening the effectiveness of supplementary investigation request powers and incorporating investigation performance evaluations into personnel decisions.


soohan@heraldcorp.com