▲ This file photo, taken March 12, 2026, shows a parliamentary plenary session at the National Assembly in western Seoul. (Yonhap)

prosecution reform-politics

Ruling party set to push prosecution reform bills at plenary session

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday was poised to push for the passage of key prosecution reform bills aimed at separating investigative and indictment powers, despite protest from the main opposition party.

In what would be a major overhaul of the prosecution service, the bills are follow-up measures to a government reorganization law that will abolish the existing prosecution service structure in October and outline the framework for launching new investigative and indictment agencies in the same month.

In protest, the main opposition People Power Party is expected to launch a filibuster if the DP brings the bills to establish a serious crimes investigation agency and an indictment agency to the floor during a plenary session later in the day.

The DP, which holds a majority in the Assembly, is also expected to push for a parliamentary investigation into allegations of what it calls fabricated indictments under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, covering the 2015 Daejang-dong development project in Seongnam when President Lee Jae Myung was the city's mayor, as well as an illegal remittance case to North Korea in 2019.

A filibuster involves lawmakers holding the floor for extended periods as a way to prevent a parliamentary vote or delay the passage of a bill. Under the National Assembly Act, a filibuster can be stopped after 24 hours if at least three-fifths of all parliament members, or 180 lawmakers, consent to it.

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