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SEOUL, May 6 (Yonhap) -- The government and the ruling party stressed the importance Wednesday of the principle of ridding the prosecution of investigative power under sweeping reforms set to take effect later this year, despite opposition demands that the agency's right to conduct supplementary investigations be kept intact.
The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and a government task force on the prosecution reform held a public discussion focused on whether the prosecution should still be allowed to conduct supplementary investigations under reform legislation calling for reducing the prosecution into a new agency handling only indictment and court proceedings without any investigative power.
"An external shape has been finalized in which the investigative agency can focus on investigation and the indictment agency can focus on indictment," Yoon Chang-ryeol, minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, who heads the task force, said during the discussion, referring to the legislation's passage.
"The government is in the process of upgrading specific procedures within the framework of the revised criminal justice system," he said. "Today, we're going to have the most specific and pragmatic discussions in the context of putting a period to relay debates."
Earlier, officials said Prime Minister Kim Min-seok has also called for holding discussions on the issue with the principle in mind that the prosecution's investigative right should be scrapped altogether as planned.
The DP has long pushed to overhaul the prosecution service, accusing the law enforcement agency of abusing its investigative power to harass liberal politicians, including late former President Roh Moo-hyun, who killed himself amid a prosecution probe into corruption allegations.
They say current President Lee Jae Myung is also a victim, accusing the prosecution of indicting him on trumped-up charges. Lee stood trials in several corruption cases before they were suspended following his election and inauguration in June 2025.
The reform legislation, which calls for reorganizing the government with a focus on dismantling the prosecution and creating two new agencies handling investigation and indictment, respectively, passed through the National Assembly and the Cabinet in March, and is scheduled to take effect in October.
But the legislation has sparked concern from the opposition and other critics that serious negative side effects could arise if the prosecution is left with no right to investigate, leaving the police to conduct all investigations, as the prosecution has usually made up for shortfalls in police investigations.
Critics claim the prosecution should be given at least a minimum level of investigative right.
"Reforming the prosecution is a stern order from the people and calls of the age," Rep. Han Jeoung-ae, the DP's chief policymaker, said during the discussion. "The party's policymaking committee is trying to uphold the original purpose and key principles of prosecution reform, while at the same time looking for forward-looking alternatives."
Han said the party and the government will come up with measures to ensure that there will be no negative side effects.
Yoon Chang-ryeol, minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination (Yonhap)
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