Democratic Party Postpones "Special Prosecutor Law on Fabricated Indictments" Until After Parliamentary Audit... Will Not Process on October 1

Processing Schedule to Be Determined After Gathering Internal Party Opinions; Exact Date Undecided
Industrial Safety Act and Urban Maintenance Act Set to Be Introduced at October 1 Plenary Session

The Democratic Party of Korea has decided to determine the timing of processing the "Special Prosecutor Law on Fabricated Indictments," which seeks to investigate suspicions of fabricated indictments by prosecutors in cases such as the Ssangbangwool remittance to North Korea case and the Daejang-dong scandal, after gathering internal party opinions.

On September 29, the Democratic Party held a general assembly meeting at the National Assembly and reached this consensus, according to floor spokesperson Jeon Eunsu, who spoke with reporters.

Jeon Eunsoo, spokesperson, is briefing at the Blue House Chunchoo-gwan. Photo by Yonhap News

Until just before the general assembly, there was strong speculation that the bill would be brought to the plenary session on October 1 and processed before the parliamentary audit. However, the Democratic Party decided not to submit the bill on this day.

Floor spokesperson Jeon explained, "We are considering including bills expected to be subjected to a filibuster by the People Power Party (legitimate obstruction of proceedings through unlimited debate) at the October 1 plenary session," and added, "The bills discussed at today's (general assembly) meeting are the Industrial Safety and Health Act and the Urban Maintenance Act (Residential Environment Maintenance Act)." The amended Industrial Safety and Health Act would impose a fine of up to 5% of annual operating profit on businesses where three or more industrial accidents occur each year.

The amendment to the Urban Maintenance Act, which stipulates the raising of the floor area ratio (FAR) for private reconstruction and redevelopment, remains an area of disagreement between the ruling and opposition parties over the legal FAR cap for public redevelopment project operators. While the Democratic Merit Persons Act, which provides for medical, care, and nursing support for those who died, went missing, or were injured in democratization movements, and the Special Prosecutor Law on Fabricated Indictments were considered for introduction at the plenary session, they were ultimately excluded.

Regarding the two bills, spokesperson Jeon commented, "Everyone agrees on their necessity," but added, "We will decide on the timing (for processing) after collecting internal party opinions, and plan to address it after the parliamentary audit." When asked about the timing for processing the Special Prosecutor Law on Fabricated Indictments, he replied, "There was no such discussion." He further noted, "The goal of this parliamentary audit is to demonstrate our full focus on people's livelihoods."

In April, the Democratic Party sponsored a special prosecutor bill to investigate whether indictments were fabricated in a total of 12 cases, including those related to President Lee Jaemyung, as well as to assess the maintenance of prosecution duties.

As public opinion deteriorated over the provision in the bill allowing for the possibility of canceling indictments, the Democratic Party decided to gather feedback from the public and party members before proceeding, effectively putting the bill on hold.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.