Lee Seok-yeon, Chairman of the President's National Integration Commission, stated on July 12 that the complete abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights is unconstitutional.
In a post on Facebook, Lee emphasized that to uphold the spirit of the Constitution, prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights must be recognized in some form. Lee, a centrist conservative and former head of the Legislation Office during the Lee Myung-bak administration, made these remarks.
He noted, "While the Constitution does not prevent the abolition of the prosecution office and the distribution of prosecutors' powers, the total deprivation of investigative rights from prosecutors as investigative entities could violate the principle of constitutional legitimacy and be deemed unconstitutional."
Lee further argued, "To completely deprive these rights, the Constitution would need to be amended to change the authority to apply for warrants from prosecutors to investigative agencies, as was done in the original Constitution, or delegated by law."
He criticized the Democratic Party, stating, "If it is a responsible political party, it should not abandon the fundamental principles for the future of the community in the name of reform, merely to appease its immediate support base or for political gain."
The chairman added, "Institutions themselves are neither good nor evil. Regardless of the system, the issue lies with the people who operate it," expressing hope that the pressing issues causing serious national division would be discussed and resolved based on legal stability and predictability, in accordance with the Constitution and sound public sense.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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