Ruling Party Hopefuls Including Oh Sehoon and Hong Junpyo Also Targeted
Bill Aims for Passage in National Assembly Plenary Session This Month
On the 11th, the opposition parties jointly proposed the 'Myeong Tae-gyun Special Prosecutor Act,' targeting allegations of President Yoon Seok-yeol and his wife’s interference in candidate nominations. They aim to pass the bill in the National Assembly plenary session within this month.
The six opposition parties?the Democratic Party of Korea, the Party for Justice and Innovation, the Reform New Party, the Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Social Democratic Party?announced that they submitted the Myeong Tae-gyun Special Prosecutor Act to the National Assembly’s legislative affairs office that afternoon.
On the 11th, the six opposition party lawmakers submitted the Special Prosecutor Act for Myeong Taegyun to the National Assembly's Legislative Affairs Office. From the left: Yoon Jong-oh, Floor Leader of the Progressive Party; Seo Young-kyo, Head of the Myeong Taegyun Gate Fact-Finding Investigation Team of the Democratic Party of Korea; Jeong Chun-saeng, Chief Deputy Floor Leader of the Party for Innovation of the Country; Han Chang-min, Leader of the Social Democratic Party; Yong Hye-in, Leader of the Basic Income Party. February 11, 2025. Photo by Kim Hyun-min
The core content of the Myeong Tae-gyun Special Prosecutor Act includes investigating politicians suspected of being involved with President Yoon Seok-yeol, First Lady Kim Geon-hee, and Myeong.
The investigation targets under the Myeong Tae-gyun Special Prosecutor Act include seven allegations: ▲interference in the 8th simultaneous local elections, the 2022 by-elections, and the 22nd National Assembly elections; ▲Myeong and others’ involvement in illegal or false opinion polls, providing such polls free of charge, and engaging in candidate nomination interference and related vested interest transactions; ▲conducting illegal or false opinion polls during the 20th presidential election and primary process, providing them free of charge in exchange for candidate nomination interference or other vested interests and privileges; ▲private sector involvement in government and local government personnel decisions, major policies, and projects, including the 2022 Daewoo Shipbuilding strike and the selection of Changwon National Industrial Complex; ▲unlawful gain through leaking state secrets such as President Yoon’s schedule; and ▲related cases recognized during the investigation process.
In particular, specifying politicians as a broad category in the special prosecutor’s investigation targets and including provisions for cognizance investigations are interpreted as implicitly targeting ruling party hopefuls suspected of being involved with Myeong, such as Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, and Reform New Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok.
The list of special prosecutor candidates (two persons) is to be recommended by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice must recommend candidates who have served as judges, prosecutors, or lawyers for more than 15 years.
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The special prosecutor may appoint up to 20 dispatched prosecutors and up to 40 special prosecutor assistants if necessary.
The investigation period is 20 days for preparation and 60 days after completion of the investigation to decide whether to prosecute. However, the investigation period may be extended once by 30 days.
To guarantee the public’s right to know, the special prosecutor may also hold press briefings during the investigation process.
The opposition parties are currently considering summoning Myeong as a witness for the National Assembly Judiciary Committee’s urgent inquiry scheduled for the 19th.
Meanwhile, Myeong wrote on his Facebook on the same day, “The Myeong Tae-gyun special prosecutor is what I truly desire,” adding, “It is now time for the public to know the dirty and ugly truth behind the political world.”
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