Opposition Audit Chief and Prosecutor Impeachment Called "Constitutional Violation"
"Democratic Party Won't Lose Reason to That Extent"
The Presidential Office criticized the Democratic Party of Korea on the 1st for passing a National Assembly rule amendment that recommends permanent special prosecutor candidates excluding the ruling party, saying it means "the Democratic Party intends to monopolize investigation and prosecution."
A Presidential Office official said in a meeting with reporters at the Yongsan Presidential Office that day afternoon, "It means they want to appoint all four National Assembly-recommended special prosecutors with individuals they desire."
The official pointed out, "The permanent special prosecutor system is similar in structure to the special prosecutor law repeatedly proposed and discarded by the Democratic Party," adding, "Therefore, it contains the unconstitutionality and illegality of the special prosecutor bill as is."
He added, "Since the special prosecutor system did not work, the Democratic Party has indirectly brought out an illegal and unconstitutional permanent special prosecutor system."
The Presidential Office emphasized that the permanent special prosecutor law was enacted in 2014 through an agreement between the Saenuri Party and the Democratic Party when the Saenuri Party held a majority in the legislature.
A Presidential Office official said, "Accepting the Democratic Party's demand despite not having a majority of seats, it was decided that each party would recommend two members to the special prosecutor candidate recommendation committee so that politically neutral individuals could be appointed as special prosecutors regardless of the number of seats."
He continued, "In other words, the current recommendation method stipulated by the National Assembly rules was proposed by the Democratic Party at that time," adding, "But now that the Democratic Party cannot recommend candidates to their liking, they unilaterally amended the National Assembly rules to select special prosecutors unilaterally and control even the special prosecutor investigations."
Earlier, the opposition parties passed a National Assembly rule amendment on the 29th of last month in the plenary session regarding the recommendation of permanent special prosecutor candidates targeting the president and their relatives. The amendment excludes two ruling party-recommended members from the four National Assembly-recommended members of the seven-member permanent special prosecutor candidate recommendation committee. Thus, the Democratic Party recommends two members, and the Party for Justice and the Progressive Party recommend the remaining two.
The Presidential Office also criticized the Democratic Party's push for the impeachment of Audit Chief Choi Jae-hae and prosecutors, saying, "The Democratic Party's reckless impeachment efforts against law enforcement agencies are political impeachment acts that violate the constitutional order."
A Presidential Office official said, "Impeachment that destroys the constitutional order should not take place, and we believe the Democratic Party will not lose reason to that extent."
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