[Anchor]

Ahead of the Democratic Party's national convention, not only former party leader Jung Chung-rae but also Prime Minister Kim Min-seok have called for the abolition of the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights. Concerns are rising that the debate over these investigative powers is being reduced to a mere tool for party leadership competition.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin has the story.

[Reporter]

Former leader Jung Chung-rae, who is effectively seeking a consecutive term as Democratic Party leader, posted "Abolish supplementary investigation rights right now" on his social media yesterday morning (June 25). He even set deadlines, calling for the government's proposal to be submitted to the National Assembly immediately and for it to be passed in a plenary session before Constitution Day.

Following this, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, who returned from a business trip to China the night before last, held an unscheduled press conference and officially declared the government's stance on abolishing the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights.

[Kim Min-seok/Prime Minister: Taking various opinions into account, we have finalized the abolition of supplementary investigation rights as the government's basic position.]

This is interpreted as an attempt to avoid losing the initiative in the race for the next party leadership to former leader Jung, who has been preempting prosecution reform issues and appealing to party members by emphasizing his clear-cut stance.

However, Prime Minister Kim stated, "The government will not submit a separate legislative proposal," adding, "It is desirable for the National Assembly to make a decision after sufficient deliberation," and "I hope a reasonable conclusion will be reached."

Some interpreted his choice of words as intentional, noting the similarity to President Lee Jae-myung’s repeated calls for "deliberation by the National Assembly" regarding this issue.

In response, former leader Jung posted again, saying it would have been best if the "full abolition of supplementary investigation rights" had been sent to the National Assembly as a government proposal. He questioned whether the issue was being "passed off to the National Assembly" and if it was a "delaying tactic," which is seen as a move to pressure Prime Minister Kim once again.

However, as the issue of supplementary investigation rights emerges as a debate over ideological clarity tied to the ruling party's leadership race, concerns are mounting in political and legal circles that precise legal and institutional discussions and debates could be neglected.

Meanwhile, the Blue House announced that President Lee and former President Moon Jae-in will have a luncheon at the Blue House on the 1st of next month.

Former leader Jung visited and met with former President Moon without prior coordination the day before yesterday. With concerns growing over potential divisions within the ruling party's support base, attention is focused on whether the meeting between the current and former presidents will lead to a message of unity.

(Reported by Kim Kwan-jin | Video by Oh Young-chun, Lee Seung-hwan, and Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Nam Il | Graphics by Choi Jin-hye and Han Song-yeon)