{"id":6648,"date":"2026-07-15T12:18:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T07:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6648"},"modified":"2026-07-15T12:18:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T07:18:42","slug":"south-korea-opposition-targets-prosecution-election-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6648","title":{"rendered":"South Korea opposition targets prosecution, election agency"},"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\/6311784074303\/2026\/i\/17840747694844\/v1.5\/South-Korea-opposition-targets-prosecution-election-agency.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok, eighth from left, speaks Tuesday during a National Assembly forum on investigative gaps exposed by the Jang Yun-gi case and the need for prosecutors\u2019 supplementary investigation authority. Photo by Asia Today&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;\n                                            <\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 14 (Asia Today) &#8212;<\/span> South Korea&#8217;s main opposition People Power Party is stepping up a two-pronged campaign against the ruling Democratic Party over prosecutors&#8217; supplementary investigation authority and demands for an independent investigation of the National Election Commission.<\/p>\n<p>Inside the National Assembly, the party is preparing legislation under floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik to preserve prosecutors&#8217; authority to conduct additional investigations after receiving cases from police.\n<\/p>\n<p>Outside the legislature, party leader Jang Dong-hyeok is traveling across the country to demand election reforms and a special counsel investigation into ballot shortages during the June 3 local elections.<\/p>\n<p>The party held a forum at the National Assembly on Tuesday titled &#8220;Investigative gaps exposed by the Jang Yun-gi case and the need for supplementary investigation authority.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Party officials used the event to highlight what they described as the dangers of the Democratic Party&#8217;s proposal to eliminate prosecutors&#8217; ability to conduct their own follow-up investigations.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If all investigative authority is handed over to the police, it will create a monstrous police force,&#8221; party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said.<\/p>\n<p>Floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik said the authority was intended to protect the public rather than the prosecution service.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Supplementary investigation authority is a system designed to protect the rights of the people, not the rights of prosecutors,&#8221; Jeong Jeom-sik said.<\/p>\n<p>Under South Korea&#8217;s current criminal justice system, police generally conduct the initial investigation and transfer a case to prosecutors. Prosecutors may request further police work or directly investigate unresolved issues before deciding whether to indict a suspect.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic Party is seeking to eliminate prosecutors&#8217; direct supplementary investigations as part of a broader effort to completely separate criminal investigations from prosecutions.<\/p>\n<p>The People Power Party has decided to introduce as official party policy an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that would preserve the authority.<\/p>\n<p>It also plans legislation delaying for one year the implementation of laws establishing the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Office.<\/p>\n<p>The new agencies are scheduled to replace the existing prosecution service in October, with criminal investigations and prosecutions assigned to separate organizations.<\/p>\n<p>People Power Party chief deputy floor spokesman Choi Eun-seok said some lawmakers had requested additional revisions to proposals prepared by the party&#8217;s legal support team.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We plan to submit them as soon as possible after an internal review, although changes remain possible,&#8221; Choi Eun-seok said.<\/p>\n<p>The party plans to cite the Jang Yun-gi murder case in Gwangju and the so-called Busan roundhouse-kick case as examples of crimes in which additional prosecutorial investigations helped uncover important facts.<\/p>\n<p>Police handling of the Jang Yun-gi case has come under scrutiny over allegations that investigators concealed evidence and improperly separated a suspected sexual offense from the killing of a female high school student.<\/p>\n<p>A National Office of Investigation special team has expanded its inquiry to former commanders at Gwangsan Police Station.<\/p>\n<p><b>Party calls for election special counsel<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The People Power Party is also intensifying its campaign for an independent investigation and reform of the National Election Commission.<\/p>\n<p>Ballot shortages disrupted voting at polling stations during South Korea&#8217;s June 3 local elections, leaving some voters waiting for hours and others unable to cast ballots.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy prompted protests, demands for a new election and questions about how the commission prepared and distributed ballots.<\/p>\n<p>During a parliamentary investigative hearing, People Power Party lawmakers questioned officials about the handling of an incident in which President Lee Jae-myung&#8217;s marked early-voting ballot was exposed.\n<\/p>\n<p>The party said evidence related to the election problems should be preserved through a special counsel investigation before any public recount takes place.<\/p>\n<p>It also called for a broader investigation of the commission&#8217;s operations and decision-making process, saying the Democratic Party had blocked the selection of witnesses requested by the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>Jang Dong-hyeok has combined the party&#8217;s legislative campaign with rallies in cities across the country, including Incheon and Busan.<\/p>\n<p>Party leaders are scheduled to attend a rally outside the Gwangju election commission office Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>They plan to call for an opposition-led special counsel investigation, a new election and broader reforms of the election agency.<\/p>\n<p>The visit will come six days after Jang visited the Gwangju Police Agency to protest its handling of the Jang Yun-gi murder investigation.<\/p>\n<p>By raising the election issue in Gwangju, a traditional Democratic Party stronghold, the opposition appears to be seeking to present the controversy as a national issue rather than a dispute limited to conservative voters.<\/p>\n<p>Disagreements between the parties also remain unresolved over control of the National Assembly&#8217;s Legislation and Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Leaders of the two parties met with the National Assembly speaker Tuesday but failed to reach an agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The confrontation is expected to continue through Friday, the deadline set by the speaker for concluding negotiations over committee leadership.\n<\/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=20260715010005385\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260715010005385<\/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>People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok, eighth from left, speaks Tuesday during a National Assembly forum on investigative gaps exposed by the Jang Yun-gi case and the need for prosecutors\u2019 supplementary investigation authority. Photo by Asia Today&#13; &#13; &#13; July 14 (Asia Today) &#8212; South Korea&#8217;s main opposition People Power Party is stepping up a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/i\/6311784074303\/2026\/1\/17840747694844\/v1.5\/South-Korea-opposition-targets-prosecution-election-agency.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6648","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\/6648","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=6648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}