Seo Young-gyo, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, speaks after the committee passed an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure that would abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority, at the National Assembly on Wednesday. People Power Party members of the committee walked out just before the vote. [Yonhap]
Seo Young-gyo, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, speaks after the committee passed an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure that would abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority, at the National Assembly on Wednesday. People Power Party members of the committee walked out just before the vote. [Yonhap]

Pro-government lawmakers on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee said Thursday that the People Power Party "cannot even distinguish between a dismissal of indictment and a withdrawal of indictment, yet is pushing a false narrative," calling the opposition's criticism "nothing more than a political slogan, not a legal argument."

The lawmakers held a press conference at the National Assembly that morning, saying, "The duty of a lawmaker is legislation grounded in facts and legal principles, not political slogans. The People Power Party chose political attacks over facts without even properly reading the bill."

They said the dismissal of indictment is not a new mechanism introduced by the amendment, but one already established under Article 327 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The amendment, they said, simply codifies legal principles the Supreme Court has already established.

They also said the People Power Party had not participated in the bill review subcommittee, adding that the party was "distorting objective facts and continuing its political attacks," and asking what difference there was between that and "a player who never took the field protesting a call after the final whistle has blown."

The lawmakers added that "withdrawal of indictment is a prosecutorial act, while dismissal of indictment is a court ruling — the actors, conditions and effects are entirely different." They said dismissal of indictment "is a constitutional safeguard protecting the public from serious unlawful investigations and abuse of prosecutorial authority," and that "the Code of Criminal Procedure is not a law to protect prosecutorial power but a law to protect the fundamental rights of the people."

They also said prosecutorial reform "is not reform to punish prosecutors," but "criminal justice reform to place the state's punitive authority under the Constitution and protect the freedom and rights of the people."

"Prosecutorial authority cannot stand above the people, and the standard of judgment must be the Constitution, not politics," they said, urging the People Power Party to "actively participate in normalizing the criminal justice system for the first time in 70 years, if it truly acts in the interest of the people."


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