The National Assembly passes an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act on Friday. [Newsis]
The National Assembly passes an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act on Friday. [Newsis]

The People Power Party will hold a leadership meeting outside Cheong Wa Dae on Monday to urge President Lee Jae Myung to veto the bill abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers — an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act — Yonhap reported.

Park Sung-hoon, the party's chief spokesperson, told reporters at the National Assembly on Saturday that the PPP would press the president to exercise his veto. "We intend to pursue every legal avenue — a competence dispute before the Constitutional Court, a constitutional complaint, and a request for a ruling on unconstitutionality," Park said. "What matters most is making sure Cheong Wa Dae clearly understands how angry the public is about this."

Asked about forecasts that the amended Criminal Procedure Act could clear a Cabinet meeting as early as next week, Park said the party would "deliver the people's voice forcefully to ensure this law is repealed."

He added that if the bill passes the Cabinet, the PPP would lead efforts to introduce a new alternative bill.

The party continued its criticism of the Democratic Party over its passage of the Criminal Procedure Act amendment.

Floor spokesperson Choi Eun-seok, in a statement, cited police's decision not to refer to prosecutors a complaint related to allegations that independent lawmaker Kang Sun-woo — who left the Democratic Party — had committed gapjil, "power abuse," against her staff. "The Kang Sun-woo case is an early warning of the side effects we will face after the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers," Choi said.

Choi went on to say that "in the space left by stripping prosecutors of their supplementary investigative powers, truths that could never be uncovered will pile up." The Democratic Party "must never forget that what it took away was not prosecutors' authority, but the public's last chance to reach the truth," Choi added.

Five-term veteran lawmaker Na Kyung-won wrote on Facebook that the president should veto the bill "if he has any legal conscience or any care for the people as president." She added that if Lee promulgates the amendment as it stands, "he will be declaring to the whole world that his only concern is erasing his own crimes — and that means he has no business remaining in that office."

Five-term PPP lawmaker Yun Sang-hyeon also posted Saturday under the title "Burning down the house to catch a flea," asking whether the government and the Democratic Party "can truly take responsibility for the chaos that will unfold after Oct. 2." The amended Criminal Procedure Act is set to take effect on Oct. 2.


cook@heraldcorp.com