Ruling Camp Suggests Prosecutors’ Probe, not Special Prosecutor’s Inquiry

A senior official with President-elect Roh Moo-hyun’s ruling camp is said to have suggested to the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) an idea of accepting prosecutors’ probe on the premise that they should delay the naming of a special prosecutor with respect to the secret payment to the North.

Against this backdrop, there are observations that the ruling camp, which had insisted on "political solution," opposed to a special prosecutor’s investigation, changed its policy.

At a gathering with reporters on Feb. 9, the GNP floor leader, Rhee Q-taek, said, "A prominent figure within the ruling camp contacted our party on Thursday afternoon, so I met him. Mr. Roh’s aide asked if the GNP could delay a special prosecutor’s investigation, if the prosecutors restart their probes, though they had once decided to put off their inquiry."

He said that Mr. Roh’s camp has reached the conclusion of accepting prosecutors’ investigation, concerned that the inquiry of a special prosecutor could spark off problems in inter-Korean relations and diplomatic problems. Rep. Rhee said he responded, "Once the prosecution restarts its investigation, naming a special prosecutor can be withhold. But if their investigation is not enough, parliamentary investigation into the administration or a prosecutor investigation will follow."

However, the ruling camp’s suggestion of prosecutors’ investigation has came out according to the idea of "political solution" pushed by President Kim Dae Jung and the president-elect after the prosecutors made an announcement to delay their probes. So it is uncertain whether the opposition would accept the ruling camp’s proposal or not.

In particular, the GNP, which controls a majority of the National Assembly seats, suspects that the ruling camp’s suggestion of restarting the prosecution’s probe is intended to avoid the inquiry of a special prosecutor.

As for Rep. Rhee’s remarks, Park Jong-hee, spokesman for the GNP, was careful, just saying "Our party has not yet been offered an official proposal from the ruling camp."

Mr. Roh’s spokesman, Lee Nak-yeon, said, "We have no idea of such a proposal and it is not related to the president-elect. From political and diplomatic point of views, it is not appropriate that political circles reverse the decision to delay an investigation by the prosecution."

Sung-Won Park Jeong-Hun Kim swpark@donga.com jnghn@donga.com