Lee says Rebuilding Korea Party reversed stance on prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers
Cho says his position on abolishing the powers has been consistent
Party calls Cheong Wa Dae's late-night rebuttal a 'dangerous political act'
Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's innovation policy research institute, and the party itself have pushed back against President Lee Jae Myung's rebuttal over prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers. Cho said his position had been consistent, arguing that remarks attributed to him by Cheong Wa Dae — suggesting he had partially endorsed such powers — were limited to "extremely exceptional circumstances."
In a Facebook post Tuesday, Cho said that while he was carrying out a schedule in Gangneung on Monday, President Lee had posted on X endorsing prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers. After the Rebuilding Korea Party corrected the factual record on its official position, Cheong Wa Dae issued a late-night rebuttal citing Cho's personal stance.
Cho drew a line against Lee's claim that he had changed his position on whether prosecutors should retain supplementary investigation powers. He said his personal view had been that such powers could be recognized on an exceptional basis only in "judicial emergencies" — situations such as an imminent statute of limitations expiration or a judicial police officer's unjustified refusal to comply with a supplementary investigation request three or more times.
He added that once the party officially adopted a policy of full abolition, he had maintained the position that prosecutors' right to request supplementary investigations should be further strengthened and systematized accordingly.
The Rebuilding Korea Party also issued an official statement Tuesday, criticizing Cheong Wa Dae's rebuttal as a "political act." Spokesperson Lim Myung-hee said that even after the party had corrected the factual record through an official statement, Cheong Wa Dae distributed a rebuttal late Monday night. "What good does it do for governance or the president to trap the Rebuilding Korea Party — which has led the charge on prosecutorial reform — in a narrative of flip-flopping, just to force an alignment with the confusion the government itself has caused on prosecutorial reform?" she said.
The party said Cho had consistently held full abolition of supplementary investigation powers as a matter of principle. Lim said Cho's position had been that prosecutors' direct "supplementary investigation powers" should in principle be abolished entirely, with the criminal justice system fundamentally restructured around the "right to request supplementary investigations."
On Cho's past references to allowing supplementary investigations in exceptional cases, Lim said those remarks were confined to "extreme emergencies where judicial justice could be seriously undermined" — such as an imminent statute of limitations expiration or a judicial police officer's unjustified refusal to comply three or more times. She added that Cheong Wa Dae had ignored the context of those YouTube interview remarks within that continuum.
The party cited as evidence Cho's criticism in May of remarks by former lawmaker Kim Yong-nam on supplementary investigation powers, as well as his statement in July — during discussions on reviving the principle of full case transfer — that he did "not agree with recognizing supplementary investigation powers."
Lim said that if the underlying intent was to destabilize the reform bloc within the democratic reform camp, "this is an extremely dangerous political act," and expressed "deep concern that Cheong Wa Dae has engaged in political action to advance a political agenda."
She added: "Prosecutorial reform is a historic achievement created by the people and belongs entirely to them. We strongly urge that any action undermining the history and foundation of that reform be kept to an absolute minimum."
Cheong Wa Dae's spokesperson office said in an early-morning statement Tuesday that Cho had appeared on the YouTube program "Jang Yun-seon's Jwijaepyeonuijeom" on Aug. 29, 2025, in his capacity as head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's innovation policy research institute, and had himself stated — with conditions attached — that he held "the position that supplementary investigations should be recognized." The office said Cho had acknowledged that the Rebuilding Korea Party had changed the substantive content of its prosecutorial reform proposals depending on circumstances.
The office added that President Lee's post on X was aimed at achieving an irreversible transformation of the prosecutorial organization in terms of the broad vision and direction of prosecutorial reform — a goal it said had been achieved — and that this vision had not changed since his presidential election campaign pledge. It doubled down, saying Lee was pointing out that the Rebuilding Korea Party had also repeatedly shifted its position on details such as supplementary investigation powers, and that the Lee administration had pursued results far more advanced than what was initially discussed in prosecutorial reform.
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