Han Byung-do (left), acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Jun-hyung, acting leader and floor leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, pose for a photo before their meeting at the National Assembly's steering committee chairman's office on Tuesday to discuss cooperation on a vote to end the People Power Party's filibuster against a bill extending the comprehensive special prosecutor mandate. [Yonhap]
Han Byung-do (left), acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Jun-hyung, acting leader and floor leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, pose for a photo before their meeting at the National Assembly's steering committee chairman's office on Tuesday to discuss cooperation on a vote to end the People Power Party's filibuster against a bill extending the comprehensive special prosecutor mandate. [Yonhap]

The Rebuilding Korea Party said Tuesday it would cooperate in a vote to end the filibuster — a legal tactic of unlimited debate used to obstruct legislative proceedings — against a bill extending the comprehensive special prosecutor mandate.

Kim Jun-hyung, the party's acting leader and floor leader, met with Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and afterward told reporters the party had decided to "participate in the plenary session procedures for passing the special prosecutor act."

Under the National Assembly Act, a filibuster can be forcibly ended and a bill put to a vote if at least three-fifths of registered Assembly members vote in favor after 24 hours have elapsed since the filibuster began. With 299 registered members currently, the threshold stands at 180. Without the Rebuilding Korea Party's 12 lawmakers, the Democratic Party and allied and independent members would fall short of that number on their own.

The Rebuilding Korea Party had been linking its cooperation on ending the filibuster to demands for a Criminal Procedure Act amendment that would completely abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers. The move is seen as a strategy to sharpen the party's profile as calls emerged within and around the Democratic Party for a version of the amendment that would retain those powers in limited cases.

Kim said he had told Han the Criminal Procedure Act amendment should be passed by the end of July to allow the new Public Prosecution Office to open on schedule, and that he had "fully communicated the position that supplementary investigative powers must be abolished."

He added that Han had shared the Democratic Party's legislative plans and in-depth views on the matter, and that he trusted what Han had conveyed — explaining the party's decision to cooperate on ending the filibuster.

"Going forward, the Rebuilding Korea Party will press ahead without wavering to fulfill its promise to the people of completing prosecution reform," Kim said.


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