Prosecutor General Oh-su Kim, who proposed the formation of a special committee on criminal justice system reform as an alternative to the Democratic Party's 'completely depriving the prosecution's investigative power' legislation yesterday, said, "Now is the time for the National Assembly."
On the way to work at the Supreme Prosecutor's Office today (22nd), President Kim said, "It is my earnest desire that the National Assembly will make the right decision for the people after sufficient discussion and deliberation."
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office proposed to National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok yesterday to establish a 'Special Committee for Reform of the Criminal Law System' in the National Assembly to ensure fairness in the investigation and to create a 'Special Act for the Protection of Investigation Fairness and Human Rights' through discussion.
In addition, it has proposed its own reform measures, such as appointing a special prosecutor to ensure independent investigations in cases where political neutrality may be a problem, and expanding the Prosecutor's Investigation Review Committee.
Regarding the special law, President Kim said, “It will become a shackle to the prosecution and other investigative agencies, and it can be a great gift of human rights protection and fairness to the people. I think we need to show it at a higher speed,” he said.
Regarding the point that it would be difficult for front-line prosecutors to start a power investigation if the measures to ensure fairness were implemented, President Kim said, "We need to investigate the power necessary for the Republic of Korea, but it is necessary not to conduct an investigation that is not wanted by the people, the National Assembly, or public opinion. I make a decision that I might do it,” he said.
As for whether the reform bill delivered to the National Assembly received the consent of the prosecution, "It is regrettable that the situation progressed so urgently that it was not possible to obtain the active consent of internal members. I will listen," he replied.
He added, "It was brief, but we went through a process of collecting opinions, but in a broad framework, we agreed that it was necessary. The Minister is not 100% satisfied, but he seems to think that there is a lot to agree on."
Regarding the expansion of the special prosecutor system, President Kim said, "Originally, it was a system that allowed independent investigations when there was corruption within the prosecution, but now there are parts that are not easy to use because corruption inside the prosecution is being investigated by the public prosecutors' office." I’m thinking about how to recommend them multiple times, and I appoint one of them to independently investigate and report only the results. I’ll make it concrete.”
(Photo = Yonhap News)