{"id":25131,"date":"2026-08-02T12:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T07:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25131"},"modified":"2026-08-02T12:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T07:06:23","slug":"south-korea-opposition-says-prosecution-bill-shields-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25131","title":{"rendered":"South Korea opposition says prosecution bill shields president"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/5611785540112\/2026\/upi_com\/2cdf3db0f80db4cbbf9d7735392d25bd\/v1.5\/South-Korea-opposition-says-prosecution-bill-shields-president.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Jeong Jeom-sig (2L), floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks to reporters at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Kore, 31 July 2026, shortly after the parliament passed a bill, introduced by the ruling Democratic Party, during a plenary session to revise the Criminal Procedure Act to strip the prosecution of its direct investigative powers. Lawmakers of the opposition party left the session in protest, abstaining from a vote on the bill. Photo by YONHAP \/ EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 31 (Asia Today) &#8212;<\/span> People Power Party floor leader Chung Jeom-sik on Friday accused South Korea&#8217;s governing party of seeking to abolish prosecutors&#8217; supplementary investigative authority to help President Lee Jae-myung avoid his criminal trials.<\/p>\n<p>Chung called the proposed revision to the Criminal Procedure Act &#8220;an unprecedentedly harmful law&#8221; that would remain a disgrace in the country&#8217;s constitutional history.\n<\/p>\n<p>He also demanded the withdrawal of a separate bill that would shorten the review period for legislation designated for fast-track consideration, calling it a measure that would turn the National Assembly into a rubber stamp.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In a few hours, the filibuster will be forcibly ended through collusion by the broader governing bloc and this unprecedentedly harmful law will pass,&#8221; Chung said at a People Power Party floor strategy meeting.<\/p>\n<p>He claimed that more than half of the public opposed eliminating prosecutors&#8217; supplementary investigative authority but that the Democratic Party was disregarding public opinion.\n<\/p>\n<p>The bill would bar prosecutors from conducting additional investigations after police transfer a case to them. Prosecutors would instead be able to request that police conduct further investigative work.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters say the measure would complete the separation of investigative and prosecutorial authority and strengthen defendants&#8217; rights. Opponents say it could delay investigations and weaken protections for crime victims.<\/p>\n<p>Chung focused particularly on a provision governing when courts may dismiss criminal indictments.<\/p>\n<p>He accused the Democratic Party of quietly adding language during a meeting of the National Assembly&#8217;s Legislation and Judiciary Committee that could make it easier to terminate the president&#8217;s pending trials.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Is the &#8216;working National Assembly&#8217; advocated by the Democratic Party merely a legislature creating an escape route to erase President Lee Jae-myung&#8217;s trials?&#8221; Chung said.<\/p>\n<p>The claim that the provision was designed to end Lee&#8217;s cases represents the opposition party&#8217;s interpretation of the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Chung said ordinary citizens could suffer from inadequate or delayed investigations if prosecutors lost their supplementary investigative authority while powerful figures could escape legal scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>He described the bill as &#8220;the end of the rule of law.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Opposition plans second filibuster<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Chung also criticized a revision to the National Assembly Act scheduled to follow the criminal procedure bill.\n<\/p>\n<p>The legislation would reduce the maximum review period for fast-track bills from 330 days to 90 days.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is an authoritarian law intended to turn the National Assembly more quickly into a machine that raises its hand and follows orders,&#8221; Chung said.<\/p>\n<p>The fast-track system was introduced to prevent legislation from being blocked indefinitely while preserving time for negotiations among political parties.<\/p>\n<p>Chung said the Democratic Party&#8217;s proposal would destroy that balance and encourage the hasty passage of legislation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is a saying that trying to arrive 10 minutes earlier can send you 10 years too soon,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If legislation is rushed, the country could suffer lasting consequences.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He called the proposal a &#8220;rubber-stamp National Assembly law&#8221; and said it should be withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>The People Power Party planned to begin a second filibuster immediately after debate ended on the Criminal Procedure Act revision.<\/p>\n<p>Choi Eun-seok, the party&#8217;s senior floor spokesperson, said the filibuster against the National Assembly Act revision was expected to begin at about 5 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Chung also rejected a demand from Democratic Party members of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee that People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook be removed from the committee.<\/p>\n<p>He called the demand an improper attempt to interfere with the opposition party&#8217;s committee assignments.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Democratic Party must abandon its authoritarian belief that the National Assembly is its property or its plaything,&#8221; Chung said.<\/p>\n<p><b>Election commission investigation<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The People Power Party said it would move quickly to establish a recommendation committee for a special counsel investigation of the National Election Commission.<\/p>\n<p>The National Assembly approved the investigation bill Thursday through an agreement between the governing and opposition parties.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation is expected to examine a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections and other allegations involving the election commission.<\/p>\n<p>Choi said the party was reviewing potential candidates from several perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will work to establish the recommendation committee and launch the investigation as quickly as possible,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8212; Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>\u00a9 Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Original Korean report: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260731010011674\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260731010011674<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeong Jeom-sig (2L), floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks to reporters at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Kore, 31 July 2026, shortly after the parliament passed a bill, introduced by the ruling Democratic Party, during a plenary session to revise the Criminal Procedure Act to strip the prosecution of its&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/5611785540112\/2026\/1\/2cdf3db0f80db4cbbf9d7735392d25bd\/v1.5\/South-Korea-opposition-says-prosecution-bill-shields-president.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}