Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said Wednesday that the party would form a task force to protect the rights of socially vulnerable crime victims, responding to the Cabinet's approval of a revised Code of Criminal Procedure that would fully abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority. "We take seriously the desperate appeals and concerns expressed by crime victims and their bereaved families," Han said, adding that the TF would directly hear the voices of victims, their families and support organizations.
Speaking at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly that day, Han said he was well aware that what victims were demanding was not the preservation of any single agency's authority, but a stronger mechanism to review and correct errors when the state's initial judgment proves wrong.
Han said the party would work to prevent investigative delays, shoddy investigations and the suppression of cases, and ensure that victims' rights to file objections and access case records are substantively guaranteed in practice. He added that the party would establish a dedicated system for supplementary and re-investigations, allowing the new Agency for Serious Crimes Investigation to take over cases where police supplementary or re-investigations fall short or where reassigning a case to the same investigative body is not feasible.
Han went on to say the party would build a personnel support system to attract capable investigators to the agency from the moment of its launch, and lay a solid organizational foundation where staff are evaluated fairly and can grow based on expertise and investigative ability. "We will also strengthen democratic oversight of the police," he added.
Turning to the People Power Party, Han said the opposition was "recklessly invoking all manner of ugly language — regime abolition, impeachment — by forcibly linking the criminal justice system to the president," calling it "a malicious political offensive that ignores the substance of the law and legitimate judicial procedures, and blatant black propaganda that stokes public anxiety."
Han went on to say he hoped the PPP would "immediately stop using the pain of victims as a weapon to attack the president and distorting facts to stoke public anxiety," warning that "malicious agitation that twists the truth and intimidates the public to manufacture fear for the sake of political strife will be rejected by the people."
Han also said the Democratic Party would spare no effort in follow-up legislation and institutional reform to protect victims' rights, check police power and support investigations by the new agency. "We will keep explaining to the public until they are satisfied. We will not stop doing everything we can to ensure the new criminal justice system takes firm root in this country," he said.
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