The People Power Party on Monday urged President Lee Jae Myung to veto an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that would abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights.
The PPP leadership convened an emergency supreme council meeting in front of Cheong Wa Dae, denouncing the bill as harmful legislation and demanding a presidential veto.
Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said the rule of law in South Korea had been dealt a death sentence the moment the amendment's passage was declared. "Even Democratic Party lawmakers opposed it, and the legal community and a majority of the public are against it — yet the Democratic Party alone insists it is a good law," he said.
Jang went on to say the bill benefits only criminals, including President Lee himself. "If he refuses to exercise the veto, the public's demand for the resumption of his trial will grow louder, and the people's calls for impeachment to protect this country will intensify," he said.
Floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik called the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party "an arrogant ruling force that disregards the people." He claimed the president and the Democratic Party had struck a backroom deal to have the charges dismissed and to abolish the supplementary investigation rights.
Jeong further said the public had already suffered serious harm from investigation delays and case-passing between agencies following the Moon Jae-in administration's restructuring of investigative authority between prosecutors and police. "Abolishing the supplementary investigation rights on top of that would be the crowning blow to the deterioration of the justice system," he said.
He added that ordinary citizens would now have to endure a hellish legal battle at enormous cost in attorneys' fees. "Even victims of the same crime will face different levels of suffering depending on their financial means," he said. "Equality before the law disappears, and all that remains is inequality before wealth."
Supreme council member Shin Dong-wook warned that if the bill clears a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday, President Lee would be declaring all-out war on the people. "That will lead directly to the downfall of the Lee Jae Myung administration," he said.
Council member Yang Hyang-ja said that if a president commits a crime, they must go to prison. "But the incumbent president and his core supporters are doing everything they can to avoid prison, destroying all common sense and even the Constitution in the process," she said.
Council member Kim Jae-won said everything happening now was the result of one person — defendant Lee Jae Myung. "Let us keep our eyes wide open, denounce the lawless politics of the Lee Jae Myung administration, and unite our strength to bring it down as soon as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, the amendment, which the Democratic Party pushed through a plenary session of the National Assembly on Friday, is expected to clear a Cabinet meeting as early as this week.
mp1256@heraldcorp.com
