{"id":7296,"date":"2026-07-16T04:47:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7296"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:47:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:47:38","slug":"south-korea-opposition-pushes-to-preserve-prosecutors-inquiry-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7296","title":{"rendered":"South Korea opposition pushes to preserve prosecutors\u2019 inquiry powers"},"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\/4201784155841\/2026\/i\/17841560098098\/v1.5\/South-Korea-opposition-pushes-to-preserve-prosecutors-inquiry-powers.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>1 of 2 | Han Byung-do, left, acting leader and floor leader of South Korea\u2019s ruling Democratic Party, attends a party leadership meeting Wednesday at the National Assembly in Seoul with Supreme Council members Hwang Myung-sun, Kang Deuk-gu and Park Jie-won. Photo by Asia Today&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;\n                                            <\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 15 (Asia Today) &#8212;<\/span> South Korea&#8217;s main opposition People Power Party launched a campaign Wednesday to preserve prosecutors&#8217; supplementary investigative authority, taking advantage of emerging divisions within the ruling Democratic Party over plans to eliminate the power.<\/p>\n<p>The opposition party introduced three bills under the banner of protecting crime victims and highlighted several prominent criminal cases to build public support for its position.\n<\/p>\n<p>All People Power Party lawmakers jointly sponsored amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act and legislation governing the planned Prosecution Service and Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.<\/p>\n<p>The bills would preserve prosecutors&#8217; authority to conduct additional investigations and expand the types of cases police must refer to prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>They would also allow prosecutors to become involved during the early stages of police investigations into serious crimes, including cases similar to the recent Jang Yun-gi murder case.\n<\/p>\n<p>The legislation would delay implementation of laws establishing the Prosecution Service and Serious Crimes Investigation Agency by one year. The new investigative agency is scheduled to begin operating in October.<\/p>\n<p>The People Power Party portrayed prosecutors&#8217; supplementary investigative authority as a minimum safeguard for crime victims rather than merely an effort to preserve prosecutorial power.<\/p>\n<p>The strategy appears intended to challenge the Democratic Party&#8217;s justification for its prosecution reform legislation by shifting the debate toward public safety and the protection of vulnerable people.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is difficult to understand an attempt to eliminate, for political purposes, a minimum safeguard intended to protect the public from violent crime,&#8221; said Kim Seung-su, the People Power Party&#8217;s senior deputy floor leader for parliamentary operations.<\/p>\n<p>The opposition party has invoked both the Jang case and the 1987 torture death of student activist Park Jong-chul as examples of cases in which a second investigative authority could help uncover facts overlooked or concealed during an initial investigation.<\/p>\n<p>People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig said Monday that the truth surrounding Park&#8217;s death might never have emerged if the prosecution system proposed by the Democratic Party had existed in 1987.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the Democratic Party&#8217;s dismantling of the prosecution and abolition of supplementary investigative authority had taken place in 1987, Park Jong-chul&#8217;s official cause of death would have been an unexplained heart attack,&#8221; Jeong said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Park died after being tortured by police during questioning. Authorities initially attempted to conceal the circumstances of his death, but the case helped intensify South Korea&#8217;s pro-democracy movement.<\/p>\n<p>Kim Jin-ju, the survivor of the widely publicized &#8220;Busan roundhouse kick&#8221; attack, also voiced support for retaining an independent review of police investigations.<\/p>\n<p>Kim said her case was initially treated as bodily injury and was referred to prosecutors as aggravated injury only after she submitted medical documentation showing the extent of her injuries.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Each institution examines a case from a different position and therefore finds different errors,&#8221; Kim said during a forum.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Having another institution review decisions made during an investigation should be an obligation, not an option,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>The growing focus on victims has increased political pressure on the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling party must complete legislation before the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency launches in October, but critics say pushing the measures through without sufficient safeguards could result in a poorly prepared overhaul of the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n<p>Women&#8217;s organizations and groups supporting crime victims have also raised concerns about completely eliminating prosecutors&#8217; supplementary investigative authority.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic Party plans to hold a policy meeting with experts next week to consider the issue further.\n<\/p>\n<p>Several Democratic Party lawmakers have introduced an amendment that would allow prosecutors to conduct supplementary investigations in a limited range of cases involving vulnerable victims, including sexual violence and child abuse.<\/p>\n<p>A senior People Power Party lawmaker said the opposition cannot block the legislation through parliamentary votes alone because of the Democratic Party&#8217;s majority, but could influence the outcome by winning public support.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What people experience directly are crimes that affect their everyday lives,&#8221; the lawmaker said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It will not be easy for the Democratic Party to push the legislation through solely in the name of prosecution reform while ignoring victims&#8217; protection and public anxiety,&#8221; the lawmaker 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=20260716010005904\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260716010005904<\/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>1 of 2 | Han Byung-do, left, acting leader and floor leader of South Korea\u2019s ruling Democratic Party, attends a party leadership meeting Wednesday at the National Assembly in Seoul with Supreme Council members Hwang Myung-sun, Kang Deuk-gu and Park Jie-won. Photo by Asia Today&#13; &#13; &#13; July 15 (Asia Today) &#8212; South Korea&#8217;s main&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/i\/4201784155841\/2026\/1\/17841560098098\/v1.5\/South-Korea-opposition-pushes-to-preserve-prosecutors-inquiry-powers.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7296","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\/7296","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=7296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}