The political fallout from the passage of a revised Criminal Procedure Act — centered on stripping prosecutors of their supplementary investigative powers — shows no sign of abating, even after the bill cleared the National Assembly floor with support from the ruling bloc.
The People Power Party is pressing hard for President Lee Jae Myung to exercise his veto power, calling it the only practical option left to block the law from taking effect.
PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok convened an emergency leadership meeting outside Cheong Wa Dae on Monday, saying the sole purpose of holding the session at that location was to demand a presidential veto. "Exercising the veto is not a matter of authority or choice — it is the command of the people and the command of history," Jang said.
Jang warned that if Lee refused to use the veto, public calls for the resumption of his trial would grow louder and demands for his impeachment would intensify. "The people will no longer recognize Lee Jae Myung as the president of the Republic of Korea," he said.
The Democratic Party of Korea, meanwhile, went on the offensive, holding a public briefing on the revised Criminal Procedure Act on Monday. The party argued that the amendment — which fully strips prosecutors of both their direct investigative authority and supplementary investigative powers — ultimately strengthens the protection of human rights.
Han Byung-do, the Democratic Party's acting leader and floor leader, opened the party's own leadership meeting with a sharp rebuke. "We strongly condemn the People Power Party's false agitation over the revised Criminal Procedure Act," he said.
Han said the PPP was stoking public anxiety by suggesting prosecutors would be left with no recourse whatsoever, and accused the party of spreading malicious rumors by dragging President Lee into a dispute over a provision on dismissal of indictments. "The claim that a prosecutor's constitutional right to request warrants amounts to a direct investigative authority is simply not true," he said. He added that it was wrong to portray prosecutors' direct investigative powers — which the Constitution does not guarantee — as if they were a constitutionally protected right.
He also dismissed as sophistry the argument that requiring police to forward all cases involving crimes against socially vulnerable groups to prosecutors constituted a violation of the right to equality.
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who has been calling on the Democratic Party to hold an open debate, took aim at the public briefing. "The Democratic Party, which passed this law stripping prosecutors of the ability to conduct supplementary investigations and thereby shielding people from punishment, is calling this a public briefing — yet they set the venue as the Democratic Party floor leader's office," he said, questioning whether any member of the public, himself included, would be allowed to attend.
The PPP said it is prepared to pursue all available legal avenues at the party level, including filing a competence dispute with the Constitutional Court and submitting a constitutional complaint. "We will mobilize every possible legal and political means to stop this law, which undermines the fundamental rights of citizens and the cause of judicial justice," chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon said.
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