SEOUL-- The floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) asked National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug to convene a plenary session for Friday in the latest push for legislation that would deprive the prosecution of its investigative powers.
Rep. Park Hong-geun made the request a day after a DP lawmaker, Rep. Min Hyung-bae, quit the party in a widely denounced move calibrated to increase the party's effective strength in the judiciary committee handling the controversial legislation so as to override opposition objections and pass the legislation.
The DP, which controls a majority in the 300-member National Assembly, has been pushing for the set of amendments to the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act as part of efforts to reform the powerful law enforcement agency long accused of abusing its power for political and other purposes.
The party aims to complete all legislative procedures and promulgate the legislation into law at the last Cabinet meeting of the outgoing administration before President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration next month as Yoon could veto it as president.
"We will try to pass the normalization of the prosecution at the National Assembly this month," Park said. "There is not much time left for the Assembly's April session."
Rep. Lee Yong-ho, chief of the Yoon transition team's political and judiciary subcommittee, said he is certain Yoon would veto the bill if it passes after he takes office.
"The way I see it, he will definitely exercise (the veto)," Lee said at a press briefing where he issued the transition team's third statement condemning the DP's move.
"It will conflict with numerous laws premised on the prosecution's investigative powers and cause inevitable chaos in the criminal justice system," he said, noting the large possibility many people will suffer "serious harm."
On Thursday, the DP was expected to refer the legislation to an ad-hoc "agenda coordination committee" to speed up its passage as the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) tries to stall for time.
"With nitpicking and time-wasting, the PPP went all-in to obstruct the proceedings," Park said. "Under the Assembly law, we had to request the formation of the coordination committee because we could no longer waste the Assembly's time from the PPP's perverseness."
But the DP decided not to form the committee during the day, as leaders of the rival parties were reportedly discussing the legislation under the table.
"We're not going to organize the agenda coordination committee today," Park Kwang-on, chairman of the judiciary committee who is with the DP, told Yonhap News Agency. "We don't want to hurt the atmosphere at a time when the speaker wants an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties. The same is true of the party leadership," he added.
Under the current makeup of the judiciary committee, the six-member agenda coordination panel should be composed of three members from the DP, two from the PPP and one independent. The judiciary committee chairman is widely expected to name Min to join the panel as an independent so as to increase the DP's effective strength in the panel to four against the PPP's two.
Legislation approved at the coordination panel with at least two-thirds support is automatically introduced to a plenary session of the judiciary committee where the DP holds a majority.
Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo paid a visit to Speaker Park to convince him of the ills of the proposed legislation and to seek his mediation.
Kim had offered to resign in protest of the bill but withdrew it after a meeting with President Moon Jae-in this week.
Prosecutors have strongly protested the proposed legislation, saying that fairness of investigations can be ensured through other means than completely depriving the prosecution of its investigative powers.
Justice Minister Park Beom-kye met with the heads of regional high prosecutors offices Thursday to discuss means of ensuring neutrality in criminal investigations.
During the meeting, which lasted about three hours, the six chiefs expressed deep concerns about the bill and asked the minister to play a role in blocking its parliamentary passage, the justice ministry said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency