Presidential Office on Opposition's Permanent Special Prosecutor Amendment: "They Want to Create a Prosecutor Directly Under the Opposition Party"

Democratic Party Floor Leader Park Chan-dae is speaking at an emergency press conference held by the five opposition parties condemning the veto of the Special Prosecutor Act for First Lady Kim Keon-hee, the Special Prosecutor Act for Fallen Marines, and the Local Love Gift Certificate Act in front of the Presidential Office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 30th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Presidential Office criticized the Democratic Party of Korea's official move on the 8th to push for a permanent special prosecutor to investigate allegations against First Lady Kim Keon-hee, calling it "an attempt to create another prosecution office directly under the opposition party."

A Presidential Office official pointed out, "Suddenly trying to change the current rules, which were enacted in 2014 through bipartisan agreement led by the Democratic Party, only reveals political intentions."

The official added, "During the first National Assembly audit of the 22nd term, which should focus on people's livelihoods, the opposition party's behavior of turning the National Assembly into a battleground for political strife by using tricks such as amending the National Assembly rules to shield their party leader is deplorable."

On the same day, the Democratic Party submitted a request for a permanent special prosecutor investigation to the agenda committee, specifying three targets for investigation: allegations of stock manipulation by Sambutogeon, allegations of external pressure on customs drug investigations, and violations of laws related to testimony and appraisal in the National Assembly.

The permanent special prosecutor law, enacted in 2014 through bipartisan agreement, allows for the immediate activation of a special prosecutor without the need to create a separate special prosecutor law.

The Democratic Party also proposed an amendment to the National Assembly rules to prevent the ruling party from participating in the candidate recommendation committee for the permanent special prosecutor who would investigate illegal cases involving the president and their family.

Currently, under the permanent special prosecutor law and National Assembly rules, the candidate recommendation committee for the special prosecutor consists of seven members: the Vice Minister of Justice, the Deputy Chief of the Court Administration, and the President of the Korean Bar Association each recommend one member, and the two negotiating parties, the People Power Party and the Democratic Party, each recommend two members.

If the amendment proposed by the Democratic Party passes, the People Power Party will not be able to recommend candidates when the permanent special prosecutor investigating First Lady Kim is activated.