[Editorial] Why not dump the nonsensical law?

Any laws violating the Constitutional principle and procedures are better undone.

The Constitutional Court last Thursday found that the way the majority Democratic Party (DP) railroaded a controversial bill last year aimed to weaken the powers of the prosecution had been incompatible with the Constitution. The nine-member bench delivered its ruling with a majority of five justices. The court sided with the governing People Power Party (PPP)’s petition complaining of procedural problems, yet did not invalidate the controversial revision. The court said the legislature’s rights to legislate should be respected regardless of procedural problems.

The DP planned meticulously to pass the revised bill aimed to deprive the prosecution of its investigation authority in April last year shortly before the inauguration of prosecutor-turned-president Yoon Suk Yeol. Worried about the possibility of the bill not passing the Legislation and Judiciary Committee smoothly, the DP forced Rep. Min Hyung-bae, a DP lawmaker, to leave the party and vote as an independent. A contentious bill that rivaling parties cannot agree on is referred to the Coordination Committee seated by three each from the governing and opposition parties. Of the three seats reserved for the opposition, one was supposed to go to an independent lawmaker, who happened to be Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, the only independent lawmaker in the coordination committee who disagreed to the bill. So, Rep. Min bolted out of the party and became an independent to join the coordination committee.

The bill easily passed the committee with the vote of approval from four members. The court found the procedure against the Constitution, upholding the “principle of majority” after discussions.

The DP hurried the prosecutorial reforms as Yoon would become the president on May 9. Why was the majority party so obsessed with the bill to weaken the prosecution? The DP was suspected to have feared the prosecution under Yoon would go after its former presidential candidate, Lee Jae-myung, and Moon administration politicians. So the party had to substantially weaken the powers of the prosecution.

The aim to take away all the investigative powers did not succeed. Due to protests, the DP had to compromise by leaving two criminal categories — corruption and economic crimes — under the prosecution. The conservative Yoon administration took a step to revise enforcement ordinances of the Prosecution Office Act to widen the scope of the prosecution’s investigation to election law violations and abuse of power.

Thanks to the ambiguous provisions the DP left in the hastily-made bill, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon could take advantage of them. The DP suffered a defeat, politically and legally. Any laws violating the Constitutional principle and procedures are better undone.