Ruling party pushes expanded special counsel probe

A special counsel bill introduced by the Democratic Party of Korea could expand its scope to include President Lee Jae-myung’s past election law case, raising the possibility that the Supreme Court’s en banc ruling in May last year may come under scrutiny.

The proposed “Special Prosecutor Act on Truth-Finding Into Fabricated Investigations and Indictments” covers a range of cases, including the Daejang-dong development scandal and Lee’s alleged violation of the Public Official Election Act. It also appears aimed at examining whether the presidential office under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration intervened in investigations involving Lee, as the bill eases restrictions on access to presidentially designated records.

Kim Hyun-jung, floor spokesperson of the Democratic Party, said Friday that the next step is to fully uncover what she described as state abuses led by politically driven prosecutors under the previous administration and to hold those responsible accountable.

A key provision allows the special counsel to widen the investigation to related matters identified during the probe. This could extend scrutiny of the prosecution’s handling of Lee’s indictment to the Supreme Court’s en banc decision, which overturned a lower court acquittal and sent the case back for retrial about a month before the presidential election last year.

The bill also lowers the threshold for accessing presidentially designated records, requiring approval from three-fifths of the National Assembly, and allows search and seizure warrants to be issued by judges at the relevant district courts. With 286 lawmakers in the National Assembly, support from 172 members would be sufficient to review records related to former President Yoon. Under current law, access requires approval from two-thirds of lawmakers.


Dong-Jun Heo hungry@donga.com