Jeong Cheong-rae again calls for abolishing "supplementary investigation authority"... Ruling party says it is a "personal opinion"

[Financial News] Jeong Cheong-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has repeatedly called for the abolition of the Public Prosecution Office's supplementary investigation authority through Thursday. Whether to grant that authority has been a point of disagreement between the Lee Jae-myung administration and the Democratic Party of Korea. With the party convention set for Aug. 17, some interpret Jeong's remarks as an effort to rally supporters ahead of his bid for another term.
At a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly on the day, Jeong cited the guilty verdict in the perjury case involving former Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young of Gyeonggi Province and said, "I heard that the Ministry of Justice special inspection team's investigation report was not submitted to the court. Could it have been a collusive deal by the Prosecution Service?" He added, "Even something as small as a spoon can be turned into a knife and pointed at the administration. The complete abolition of supplementary investigation authority is the right answer."
The perjury issue involving Lee centers on the so-called "salmon and drinking party allegation." It refers to claims that, during the investigation into the cash-for-summit scandal when Lee Jae-myung was governor of Gyeonggi Province, prosecutors tried to pressure people with salmon dishes and soju. After the trial court ruled that the testimony amounted to perjury, the Democratic Party of Korea denounced the decision as biased, while the People Power Party said the prosecution had lost its justification for pressuring the prosecution to drop charges against Lee and demanded a public apology.
Jeong argued that the ruling was a fabricated and mistaken conclusion by the court and the prosecution, and used it as grounds for saying the Public Prosecution Office should not be given supplementary investigation authority. "Watching Lee Hwa-young's trial, I once again realized that the Prosecution Service is truly a group that is hard to fix," Jeong said. "The final step in prosecution reform is the complete abolition of supplementary investigation authority. I believe even the tiniest trace of that authority must be eliminated."
The president and the government have been in dispute with the Democratic Party of Korea, saying the Public Prosecution Office needs at least some authority to request supplementary investigations. Even so, Jeong has publicly and repeatedly called for the complete abolition of supplementary investigation authority, and he reiterated that position after the ruling in Lee's case. Given that the race for party leadership is being shaped by a pro-Lee camp and a pro-Jeong camp, his remarks are being read as an attempt to consolidate support.
The Democratic Party of Korea said Jeong's remarks were a "personal opinion," noting that the official party position is that the issue will be discussed later. Chief spokesperson Kang Jun-hyun told reporters after the Supreme Council meeting, "There is Jeong's personal opinion, and opinions among lawmakers are also divided." He added, "After completing the organization of the National Assembly in its second half, we will gather public opinion through a policy caucus or the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly."
uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yun-ho Reporter