The top prosecution office raised concern that its investigation-related intelligence could be leaked to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party, if the bill passes parliament and the new agency is established next year.

Under the reform bill proposed by the DP and four minor parties, the agency would be empowered to investigate all top-ranking government officials, including lawmakers, prosecutors and judges, on suspected corruption and election crimes. The president is to appoint the chief of the corruption investigation agency out of two candidates picked by a screening panel. The president is also to appoint the agency's prosecutors from among those who have served as a state prosecutor or lawyer for longer than 10 years, at the recommendation of the agency chief.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party has vehemently opposed the prosecution reform bill, saying the agency can abuse its power to selectively launch investigations in accordance with the will of the president and Cheong Wa Dae.

But the DP and four minor parties dismissed such concerns as groundless, arguing they don't have any political intentions hidden in the push for the creation of the new corruption investigation agency. The five parties, which together control more than a majority of seats in parliament, have vowed to railroad the prosecution reform bill in the upcoming extra sessions.

The SPO had previously agreed to the reform bill but has changed its position after the controversial clause was inserted into the bill during the last-minute negotiations among the five parties.

"The High-Ranking Officials' Corruption Investigation Agency is a single anti-corruption organization. It is not supposed to become a control tower in investigations into ranking public officials," the SPO's statement said.

"That the corruption investigation agency is notified of all information from the beginning of investigations by prosecutors and police runs contrary to the principle of the government's organizational structure. There is no reason for the corruption probe agency to receive investigation-related reports from prosecutors and police. The three organizations are just supposed to play their own roles within the boundary of the Constitution and laws," it argued.

The SPO also raised concern that the corruption investigation agency can play up or down corruption cases depending on the intentions of the president, Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party.

According to sources, the SPO statement has been released at the instruction of Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-yeol.

The ruling DP brushed off the prosecution's objection as "politically intended."

"The party cannot accept the prosecution's opinion about the agreement among lawmakers from ruling and opposition parties," Rep. Lee Hae-sik, party spokesperson, told reporters later in the day.

"The bill on the corruption investigation agency is the result of nearly a year of debate ... and making a claim as if it were a totally new thing that came out of nowhere is politically intended," Lee added. (Yonhap)