Gov't reaches conclusion on completely abolishing prosecution's investigative rights: Prime minister

The government has reached a conclusion that the prosecution's investigative rights should be completely removed, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Thursday.

Whether to allow the prosecution to conduct supplementary investigations or scrap all of its investigative power has been a hot issue, with the ruling Democratic Party calling for completely scrapping the rights and the opposition arguing that it could cause serious negative effects.

"The basic principle of the Lee Jae Myung administration's prosecution reform push is the separation of investigation and indictment," Kim told reporters. "Scrapping the prosecution's supplementary investigative right has been finalized as the government's basic position."

Kim said the government will deliver its position to the National Assembly without proposing a new bill.

"Rather than proposing a separate legislative bill, the government will respect the National Assembly's discussions and decision," he said.

Yonhap