Democratic Party Proposes Bill to Fully Abolish Prosecution's Supplementary Investigation Authority... "A Gamble Using the Public as Collateral"

[Anchor]

The Democratic Party has proposed a bill to completely abolish the prosecution's authority to conduct supplementary investigations. While the bill allows prosecutors to make various requests to the police, it ultimately prevents them from conducting investigations themselves. Following the exposure of how the police handled the investigation into Jang Yoon-gi, the son of a senior police officer, criticism regarding such legislative changes is intensifying.

Reporter Park Jae-yeon has the story.

[Reporter]

The amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act proposed by the Democratic Party includes the full abolition of the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority.

First, it completely removes existing provisions such as Article 196 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which stipulates that "prosecutors shall investigate criminals, criminal facts, and evidence."

It has eliminated clauses that explicitly name "prosecutors" as subjects of investigation, including supplementary investigations.

[Kim Han-kyu / Senior Deputy Floor Leader of the Democratic Party: There are many clauses where the subject of investigation is defined as 'prosecutors and judicial police officers.' We have now excluded prosecutors from those parts.]

Instead, the bill grants prosecutors the authority to request supplementary investigations from other investigative agencies, such as the police.

If a judicial police officer who receives a request for a supplementary investigation fails to carry it out faithfully, a prosecutor from the Public Prosecution Service may request the exclusion from duty, disciplinary action, or replacement of that officer.

Regarding concerns that investigations might be delayed without timely action even after requests are made, the bill sets a strict deadline, requiring judicial police officers who receive a prosecutor's request for supplementary investigation to complete it within a maximum of two months, with two one-month extensions allowed.

[Kim Han-kyu / Senior Deputy Floor Leader of the Democratic Party: If they do not complete the supplementary investigation within the period, they will be subject to disciplinary action, exclusion from duty, and replacement.]

The bill also paves the way for other investigative agencies besides the police, such as the Major Crimes Investigation Agency, to handle supplementary investigations.

The Democratic Party plans to process the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act before its national convention, which will be held on August 17, following a review by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

The People Power Party criticized the Democratic Party's proposed amendment, stating, "They are obsessed with a gamble that uses the lives and safety of the public as collateral, looking only at their hardline supporters."

[Jang Dong-hyuk / Representative of the People Power Party: When the police hold all investigative powers without the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority, the damage will fall entirely on the public.]

The People Power Party's floor leadership is also considering proposing its own amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, which would include provisions such as retaining the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority for certain major crimes.

(Video reporting: Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Wi Won-yang)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.