Cheon Ha-ram, floor leader of the Reform Party, strongly criticized the Democratic Party of Korea's push to pass the "legal distortion crime" bill, calling it "the worst of bad laws that distorts investigations and trials."
At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 26th, Cheon stated, "The Democratic Party of Korea must regain at least a minimum of reason and stop the forced passage of the legal distortion crime bill."
"The legal distortion crime bill would punish prosecutors and judges with up to 10 years in prison for intentional misapplication of laws, collecting illegal evidence, or recognizing crimes without evidence," Cheon explained. "There is a very high risk of indiscriminate legal distortion crime accusations and trial by public opinion against judges and prosecutors through a 'frenzied collaboration' between lawmakers and hardcore supporters claiming 'intentional misapplication of law' in trials involving politicians."
He continued, "The 'judicialization of politics,' where the political arena cannot solve its own problems and only looks to investigative agencies and courts through accusations, is already being heavily criticized. Now they want to continue 'infinite extreme confrontation' through legal distortion crime accusations even after investigative agencies' decisions and court rulings are made."
Cheon also noted, "They say they will punish illegal evidence collection under the legal distortion crime. Determining what constitutes 'illegal evidence' is often difficult on a case-by-case basis, and precedents regarding illegally collected evidence, especially digital evidence, continue to be formed and evolve."
"If they punish illegal evidence collection under these circumstances, investigative agencies will inevitably be discouraged from securing evidence," he said. "This would create a golden age for criminals."
He added, "This is not a distant concern. I am deeply worried that the lawmakers' group calling for dismissal of charges against President Lee Jae-myung will take the lead in filing bizarre legal distortion crime accusations and use this as a pretext to force charge dismissals."
Cheon repeatedly urged, "They must regain at least a minimum of reason and stop the introduction of the legal distortion crime bill."