Just one day after the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties pledged to work together, the two sides resumed sharp exchanges over major policy issues. Both parties condemned the police's handling of the Jeju missing-person case — in which a body believed to be that of the missing woman was found after investigators had falsely closed the case — but they offered starkly different prescriptions for reform.
Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do called Tuesday at a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly for the police to undertake sweeping self-renewal following the discovery of a body believed to be that of missing woman Jang Mi-ran. "The police must rebuild public trust through painful, bone-deep reform," Han said.
Han noted that after the Jang Yun-gi case last month exposed allegations of shoddy investigations and improper ties, the police had promised fundamental reform and launched a police investigation reform committee to restore public confidence. "Yet in less than a month, another devastating incident has occurred that calls into question the police's investigative capabilities and organizational discipline," he said.
He added that ahead of the introduction of a new criminal justice system, accountability mechanisms and oversight measures must be put in place to match the expanded authority the police will receive. "The police are now standing at the final test that will determine whether they can regain the public's trust," he said.
Han also stressed that less than two months remain before the new criminal justice framework takes effect. "As the police's authority grows, so must their investigative capacity, accountability, transparency and democratic oversight," he said, pledging that the Democratic Party would work to the end to establish a comprehensive reform plan for the police and build an investigative system the public can trust.
Han also turned his sights on Chief Justice Jo Hee-dae, who has been at the center of controversy over the nomination of Supreme Court justices without prior consultation. "Chief Justice Jo and Court Administration Chief No Gyeong-pil must appear before the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee for questioning on Monday," Han said. "We expect them to answer directly before the public why they pushed ahead with the nominations without consultation."
The People Power Party also took aim at the string of police investigation failures, but proposed a different solution — focusing on the risk that abolishing the prosecution service and eliminating prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights could weaken checks on police conduct.
PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik said at the party's floor strategy meeting Tuesday that public confidence in the police was shaking. "At the Gwangsan Police Station in Gwangju, the father of Jang Yun-gi destroyed key evidence. At the Gangnam station, the head of the investigation team accepted a request and reclassified a suspect as a mere reference witness to bury the case," Jeong said.
He warned that case cover-ups would become even more rampant after the full abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights and the dissolution of the prosecution service. "It will become nearly impossible to uncover how cases were distorted, and South Korea will become a country where police can bury cases at will," he said.
Jeong also went on the offensive against the ruling party. He accused the Democratic Party of turning prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights — the last check on the police's monopoly over investigations — into a bargaining chip for votes at its party convention. "Prime Minister Han Seong-sook then called on the police to reflect and reform, and Democratic Party lawmakers said a system must be built to prevent the police from wielding unchecked power," he said. "This is like an arsonist setting a fire and then telling someone else to put it out."
Tensions between the two parties also flared over other key issues. The Democratic Party renewed pressure for disciplinary action against PPP lawmaker Lee Jin-sook, who has drawn criticism over remarks at a recent forum on the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.
Han said Lee had declared on Friday that "living under President Lee Jae Myung's rule is humiliating and shameful." "Just eight days after insulting the May 18 movement, she has now denied the legitimacy of a democratically elected president and the Republic of Korea itself," Han said, sharply criticizing the remarks.
Regarding Lee's filing of a criminal complaint against Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok for defamation on Monday, Han said: "How can she feel so deeply aggrieved by the insult she received, yet feel not a shred of guilt for the dishonor she inflicted on the souls of May 18, the citizens of Gwangju and the Korean people?" The National Assembly's steering committee, led by the ruling party, passed a resolution Tuesday calling for Lee's expulsion.
The PPP, meanwhile, went on the counterattack, dismissing the second comprehensive special prosecutor investigation — which concluded after 180 days — as all noise and no substance.
Jeong said the much-hyped investigation resulted in 58 indictments and 150 referrals to police. "If they shook everything down and still could not prove the charges, the cases should be closed — yet they are offloading to the police charges they themselves could not substantiate," he said.
On the special prosecutor's proposal to establish a permanent special investigation unit, Jeong called it "a dangerous suggestion to keep President Lee Jae Myung mired in a special prosecutor and special investigation unit security crackdown until the end of his term." He also questioned what South Korean society had gained from pouring 52.3 billion won ($37.9 million) of taxpayer money into the special prosecution.
He added that the Democratic Party was already stoking the fires for a new special prosecutor to withdraw indictments even before the previous one had finished. "If they insist on crossing that river, the Lee Jae Myung administration will inevitably become the target of yet another special prosecutor investigation in the future," Jeong said.
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