PPP “REFORM BILL IS LEGISLATIVE VIOLENCE”

[Anchor Lead]

After the prosecution reform bill was approved by the cabinet, the People Power Party criticized it as legislative violence that rang a death bell for parliamentarism and rule of law. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office also called it unconstitutional and warned of legal actions.

[Pkg]

The People Power Party shouted slogans instead of casting votes at the National Assembly’s general session. They demanded the Speaker resign.

[Soundbite] "Resign! Resign!"

The bill was promptly put to a vote and was approved in just three minutes. The opposition party criticized each step of the bill’s legislation.

[Soundbite] Song Eon-seog(People Power Party Senior Vice Floor Leader) : "The DP used all sorts of illegal ploys and tricks like having its member pretend to leave the party and join the agenda coordination committee under false pretenses and dividing up the parliamentary terms. It has thus invalidated the National Assembly Act."

Immediately after the general session, the PPP lawmakers headed to Cheong Wa Dae. They denounced President Moon Jae-in, calling the change of the cabinet meeting time another ploy.

[Soundbite] Lee Jun-seok(People Power Party Leader) : "Pres. Moon is at least a conspirator in the railroading of the prosecution reform bill and legislative promulgation. There is a reasonable doubt that he may even have planned all this from the beginning."

There is no way to stop the implementation of the law at the moment. The opposition party is hoping the Constitutional Court would rule in their favor through the adjudication of jurisdiction disputes. Now the Prosecutors’ Office joined this legal fight. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said immediately after the cabinet voting that it is appalled because proper procedures and principles in the Constitution were not followed and announced it would file a Constitutional lawsuit and take legal actions. A petition signed by some 3,300 members of the Prosecutors’ Office was sent to the President’s Office. The PPP believes that winning the upcoming local elections is pivotal in securing enough authority to drive government policies, and therefore plans to focus on designing election strategies.