The acting Attorney General of South Korea, Koo Ja Hyeon, has submitted his resignation this Friday, after the Parliament, dominated by the Democratic Party (DPK), approved a bill that withdraws all investigative powers from the Prosecutor's Office to transfer them to the Police and a new governmental agency.
The high-ranking judicial official announced his resignation in statements released by the state agency Yonhap, in which he explained that with this step he assumes political responsibility for the approval of the controversial reform.
The modification of the Criminal Procedure Law has been approved with 175 votes in favor, two against, and one abstention from the 178 deputies who participated in the session, as the 108 parliamentarians of the opposition People Power Party (PPP) decided to boycott the vote in the National Assembly.
According to the new regulations, which still need the approval of President Lee Jae Myung — a procedure considered practically assured, despite the fact that the president is on an official trip in Latin America — prosecutors will no longer have formal authority to investigate crimes, a task that will pass to the hands of the Police and a new governmental agency, leaving the Prosecutor's Office limited to presenting charges.
The initiative, which the ruling party presents as a tool to end the "concentration of power" in the Prosecutor's Office, has generated concern among sectors that warn that poorly managed or prolonged cases by the Police will not be able to be corrected if the Prosecutor's Office is completely removed from the investigations, according to the newspaper 'The Korea Times'.