Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said Monday the party would complete the remaining nomination procedures without delay so that a Special Inspector could be appointed during the August extraordinary session of the National Assembly.
Han made the remarks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, saying the Democratic Party planned to send a joint recommendation letter to the Korean Bar Association together with the People Power Party by the end of Monday. Under the process, the Democratic Party, the People Power Party and the Korean Bar Association each recommend one candidate for Special Inspector. The Democratic Party had previously nominated attorney Choi Gil-su, while the People Power Party had nominated attorney Kang Ji-sik.
On Choi, Han said he was "a 21-year veteran in the field of inspections who served as chief of the Andong branch of the Daegu District Prosecutors Office and worked in the inspection division of the Seoul High Prosecutors Office." Han added that the party judged Choi to be "a person with the capability to faithfully carry out the Special Inspector's core mission of preventing misconduct by senior public officials and conducting rigorous inspections."
Han further said Choi had previously been recommended as a Special Inspector candidate by the Bareunmirae Party — then an opposition party during the Moon Jae-in administration — making him "the right person to monitor power independently and impartially, without leaning toward any particular camp."
Turning to the People Power Party, Han urged it to "join responsibly in bringing an end to the decade-long vacuum in oversight of power."
Han also strongly condemned what he called the People Power Party's "false agitation" over the revised Code of Criminal Procedure, which passed the National Assembly floor.
He said the People Power Party was "not only stoking public anxiety by suggesting prosecutors cannot take any remedial action, but now spreading malicious rumors by dragging President Lee into the debate over the dismissal-of-indictment clause." He called it "utterly absurd" that the party was moving to hold a protest supreme council meeting in front of Cheong Wa Dae and file a constitutional petition.
Han cited a 2023 Constitutional Court ruling, saying the court had already determined that prosecutors' right to request warrants under Articles 12 and 16 of the Constitution does not presuppose prosecutorial investigative authority, and that the allocation and adjustment of investigative powers is a matter for the National Assembly to legislate. "It must not be misrepresented as if prosecutors' direct investigative authority — which the law does not guarantee — were a constitutional right," he said.
Han called on the People Power Party to "immediately stop attempting to reverse prosecution reform by using constitutional petitions as a tool of political strife," and said the Democratic Party would "respond to political agitation with truth and confront groundless unconstitutionality offensives firmly with the Constitution and legal precedent."
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