Roh Hinted at Rejecting the Call for Extension of Investigation Period

Due to President Roh Moo-hyun`s request for an extension to the initial 90-day period to look into the "cash-for-summit scandal," the President hinted on Sunday that he would not extend the period. "What is supposed to be concluded should be concluded," he said. "If there are some new allegations, an investigation into these allegations should newly start."

That day, the President visited a neighborhood in Myeongryun-dong, Seoul, where he lived before his inauguration as President and played badminton with a few of the residents. During conversations with residents after the games, he was asked by one of them if he would extend the independent counsel’s investigation and he hinted that he would reject the request.

Mr. Roh offered the position that the independent counsel`s probe should be concluded and that the prosecution should deal with the allegations the former presidential chief of staff accepted 15 billion won from Hyundai.

The President is expected to decide on whether to extend the independent counsel’s probe on Monday.

During a breakfast meeting with Special Prosecutor Song Doo-hwan on Saturday, the President was briefed on why his team asked for an extension to the investigation period and asked about the progress of his team’s probes into the secret transfer to North Korea.

At the meeting, the President said, "I expected that the investigation would not end even after [the investigation period] had been extended twice. But it seems that the probes have proceeded faster than expected."

The President showed his opinion that important parts of the probes, such as how the money was raised and transferred to the North, seemed to have already been revealed.

The original purpose of the independent counsel`s probes, such as investigations into illegal loans extended to Hyundai and whether the transfer was intended for the inter-Korean summit, were achieved, Mr. Song said. He added that he had no plan to summon former president Kim Dae-jung in for questioning.

Mr. Song explained the reason he had asked for more time was that at the end of the team’s investigation, the allegations that Park Jie-won had accepted 15 billion won from Hyundai emerged, so they decided to continue probes into the allegations, though this was not the original purpose of their investigation.

Meanwhile, at a news conference on Sunday opposition Grand National Party (GNP) spokesman Park Jong-hee said that Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling Millennium Democratic Party are opposed to prolonging the period of investigation because they are afraid that the truth will be disclosed. President Roh should approve of the extension after reflecting on why he appointed the independent counsel in the first place."

"If the President didn’t allow more time for the independent counsel`s investigation, another independent counsel bill would be presented before the National Assembly to get to the bottom of the cash-for-summit scandal. At the same time, the GNP would reject deliberation on most government-sponsored bills and introduce resolutions to dismiss cabinet ministers. The President and the ruling party should be held accountable for the subsequent political crisis," the GNP spokesman said.

Jeong-Hun Kim Yeon-Wook Jung jnghn@donga.com jyw11@donga.com