The debate has deepened within the ruling party over whether to completely remove prosecutors' supervision of police in its handling of criminal cases, a key agenda item ahead of the convention to elect a new party leader.
Some lawmakers have expressed concerns that the party's ongoing legislative push could leave the police unchecked and invite corruption.
But others said the party should continue to push for the prosecutorial reform plan regardless of the potential negative effects of the legislation.
Rep. Park Jie-won, a five-term lawmaker, said in a radio interview with SBS on Monday that there was no going back.
Since President Lee Jae Myung's inauguration in 2025, the party has pushed to curb what it calles abuses of power by the prosecution by carving out the investigative agency, which currently has the power to investigate crimes, into a separate body, with the prosecution limited to making indictments and seeking convictions.
"Various doubts have recently emerged over the police's capability to investigate (a criminal case) but we cannot go back to the era of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, when politically motivated prosecutors were rampant," said Park, who was cleared in January of criminal charges of abusing his power as the former spy chief in a case concerning a death of a civil servant in the West Sea.
The carveout is expected in October, when the prosecution office will be renamed as the Indictment Agency.
It was to have limited power to conditionally intervene in criminal investigations if prosecutors found that a police investigation was insufficient before bringing a case to court.
But a bill proposed Thursday to revise the Criminal Procedures Act, sponsored by the Democratic Party of Korea, would strip the prosecutors in the Indictment Agency of that conditional power. If the bill becomes law, the only remaining investigative power for the prosecutors will be to ask police to conduct further investigations.
Leading candidates for the ruling party leadership have pledged to remove prosecutors' investigative powers, including former Prime Minister Rep. Kim Min-seok and Rep. Jung Chung-rae, who is effectively seeking reelection.
The party, which has the majority in the National Assembly, is seeking to pass the revision bill before its convention on Aug. 17.
Others, however, are calling for caution.
Rep. Kim Nam-hee of the Democratic Party said Monday that removing the prosecution's remaining investigative powers could leave some victims more vulnerable.
"Although we are in the right direction for the reform, no innocent people should fall victim in the middle of the process," Kim said. "There are voices saying that the recent revision to the Criminal Procedure Act should not make matters worse."
On Sunday, Democratic Party Rep. Lee So-young expressed concern that the reform bill would mean prosecutors indicting suspects "without ever seeing them in person," forcing them to "make a decision solely based on paperwork."
Other party lawmakers Reps. Kwak Sang-eon and Hong Kee-won have also expressed concerns about the push.
However, Jung, who officially announced his bid to rerun for party chair Monday, told reporters that his prosecutorial reform push will be carried out "perfectly, 100 percent."
Jung also said in an online bulletin for his supporters Monday that calls for deliberation in reform "effectively means an objection."
Meanwhile, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a subcommittee meeting Monday to discuss the revision bill without the presence of lawmakers from the main opposition People Power Party.
Rep. Kim Seung-won of the Democratic Party, who led the subcommittee Monday, said the byproduct of the police being unchecked by the prosecution under its revision bill could be handled with the prosecutor in charge of an indictment cooperating with police investigators in the process of search, seizures and arrest warrant applications.
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