President Lee Jae-myung said he will follow the National Assembly’s opinion on whether to grant supplementary investigation authority to the new public prosecutor office [1].
The decision comes as South Korea navigates a contentious restructuring of its legal system. Because the scope of this authority is heavily debated, the president is deferring the final determination to the legislature to ensure the new office carries legitimacy.
Lee said during a YTN news broadcast that the government should not insist on a specific position [1]. He said that the result should be left to the National Assembly [1].
The move is framed by a significant decline in confidence in the current legal establishment. Lee said that public distrust of prosecutors is very high [1].
This debate is occurring against the backdrop of a scheduled overhaul of the judicial system. The current prosecutor’s office is planned for abolition in October 2024 [1]. This timeline follows the conclusion of local elections held in 2024 [1].
By allowing the National Assembly to decide the powers of the successor office, the administration avoids a direct confrontation with lawmakers over the balance of power between investigators and prosecutors. The supplementary investigation authority is a critical tool that determines how much autonomy a prosecutor's office has in refining cases before they reach trial [1].
“"Public distrust of prosecutors is very high."”
This deferment signals a strategic shift by President Lee to avoid political liability over a highly polarized issue. By anchoring the decision in the National Assembly, the administration seeks to create a legal framework for the new prosecutor's office that is viewed as democratically mandated rather than unilaterally imposed, especially as the country prepares for the total abolition of the existing office in late 2024.
