Lawmakers fail to push through reform drive for judicial system

A special parliamentary committee in South Korea is set to cease operation without tangible results, giving up its battle to reform the nation's judicial system against strong opposition from prosecutors and divided opinions among lawmakers, observers said Monday. The special legislative committee on judicial reform held a meeting earlier in the day in their last-ditch efforts to push through pending reform issues confronting the judiciary system. But they failed to narrow their differences and decided to disband the committee at the end of this month, according to lawmakers. "We have decided to end the operation of the special legislative committee on judicial reform later this month and decided not to extend its role again," Joo Sung-young, a key member of the committee from the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), told reporters. "Major issues will be discussed in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee... Since there has been little progress despite continued consultations, we made the decision to leave the issues to the leaders of ruling and opposition parties so that they can take more time to discuss them going forward," he noted. The special committee was launched in February last year as the parliament pushed to reform the nation's judiciary system including the prosecution and the courts. The reform drive centered around plans to scrap the central investigation unit of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, establish an independent investigative agency and increase the number of Supreme Court justices. The efforts, however, met strong opposition from the prosecution recently, especially on the parliament's plan to abolish its special investigation unit. Lawmakers pushed to abolish the unit, questioning its neutrality in conducting a probe. But the prosecution countered that it was critical to keep its watch on high-profile political corruption cases. The fate of the investigation unit drew fresh attention recently as it is probing ailing savings banks accused of bribing former and incumbent ranking government officials and politicians in return for helping them avoid punishment for their irregularities. The prosecution argued that lawmakers might be trying to hamper their investigation into the savings bank scandal. The presidential office recently expressed caution against the abolishment of the unit, increasing confusion among lawmakers on the issue.