Democratic Floor Leader Vows Administrative Capital Law by Year-End

SEJONG — Han Byung-do, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, pledged during a visit to Sejong on the 2nd to enact a special law completing the city's transition into an administrative capital by the end of this year.

Speaking at a party leadership meeting held at Sejong City Hall, Han said Sejong residents had packed the steps in front of the National Assembly on Monday, Aug. 31, standing in pouring rain to demand passage of the special law this year. "The Democratic Party will properly honor that earnest wish," he said.

"We will do our utmost to make this regular parliamentary session the occasion for establishing the institutional foundation for completing the administrative capital," he said.

Han pushed back against the opposition People Power Party, which has criticized the 2027 budget proposal as "fiscal recklessness" and an "unaffordable budget," calling the characterization "a forced argument and a distortion built by looking only at the numbers they want to see."

Responding specifically to the People Power Party's claim that national debt will rise by 106 trillion won, Han said the ratio of national debt to gross domestic product will actually fall to 48.3% next year from 51.6% this year as the economy expands. "They talk only about how much the debt grows while hiding how much stronger the economy has become to bear it," he said.

He also dismissed criticism over surplus funds in the future response fund, describing them as "a national fiscal reservoir, set aside when tax revenue is high and drawn on when revenue falls or the economy struggles." He called the money "strategic resources invested in young adults, new industries, regional development and education."

Han signaled a sweeping overhaul of the police. "Today is Sept. 2, so exactly one month from now, on Oct. 2, the 78-year-old Prosecution Service will be abolished and the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will open the door to a new history," he said, calling it "a major transformation of South Korea's criminal justice system that disperses the concentrated power of the prosecution through the separation of investigation and indictment, and establishes checks and balances."

"For the new system to work properly, the public must above all be able to trust investigative agencies," he added. "In that respect, the problems that have surfaced one after another in the police recently cannot be taken lightly."

Han said the party would pursue a high-intensity police overhaul centered on its newly launched police reform task force, pledging to "root out the so-called six major ills" — burying cases, closing them without authorization, shielding colleagues, concealing or fabricating evidence, leaking investigative information and violating personal data.

He also outlined plans to strengthen accountability commensurate with the police's expanded authority while improving working conditions and investigative capacity for officers in the field.

Turning to the People Power Party, Han said it "must not stoke public anxiety by using individual cases to suggest that stripping prosecutors of investigative powers will mass-produce similar cases, and must not shake the foundation of the new criminal justice system." He added: "Police wrongdoing should be corrected through police reform, not used as a pretext for reviving prosecutorial power."