Ruling Party-Led Special Committee on Manipulated Indictments Accelerates Push for Special Counsel Through Broad Pressure

[Financial News] The Special Committee for Fact-Finding on the Allegations of Manipulated Indictments by the Political Prosecutors of the Yoon Suk Yeol Administration, led by the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), is speeding up its push for a special counsel. The move comes as it intensifies broad pressure on prosecutors through on-site inspections and other measures involving state agencies.
On the 20th, the committee held a plenary meeting and, at the DPK's initiative, approved a motion to conduct on-site inspections of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
First, the DPK plans to focus its on-site inspection on the BAI's audit of the West Sea civil servant shooting incident, which was carried out under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The party has raised suspicions that prosecutors manipulated indictments by deliberately ignoring some of the BAI's audit records out of concern that they would conflict with the charges.
The DPK also believes prosecutors used information from the FSS's investigation into stock manipulation involving the Ssangbangwool Group to pressure and coax former chairman Kim Sung-tae. The party says this was intended to push Kim to make statements unfavorable to President Lee Jae-myung.
The DPK-led committee is expanding its pressure campaign in all directions, targeting not only prosecutors but also state institutions such as the BAI and the FSS through hearings, a parliamentary inquiry, and on-site inspections. The party says it needs to bring signs of manipulated indictment practices by prosecutors into the open before it can justify pushing for a special counsel. If the allegations raised by the DPK are confirmed during the on-site inspections, the party's push for a special counsel is expected to gain momentum.
The DPK also appears to be aligning itself with the committee's position on pursuing a special counsel. At a press briefing held at the National Assembly on the day, senior spokesperson Kang Jun-hyun said, "It seems the time has come to conclude the committee's comprehensive hearing and parliamentary inquiry." He added, "If what has been identified or investigated in the parliamentary inquiry is clearly established fact, then it should naturally be converted into a special counsel."
He said, "What can be done in a parliamentary inquiry is limited," and added, "The committee believes a special counsel is necessary to determine the facts and settle the matter more deeply." Party leader Jung Chung-rae and floor leader Han Byung-do have also repeatedly stated that if the prosecutors' manipulated indictment practices are proven true, they will move forward with a special counsel.
Meanwhile, the committee also approved, at the DPK's initiative, a list of witnesses and reference witnesses to appear at the comprehensive hearing scheduled for the 28th.
A total of 17 people were selected as witnesses for the comprehensive hearing, including Eom Hee-jun, a prosecutor at the Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office who participated in the second investigation team for the Daejang-dong development scandal, and Kim Baeksin, a prosecutor at the Daegu High Prosecutors' Office. Also on the witness list were attorney Nam Wook, a private developer involved in the Daejang-dong development scandal, along with Jeong Young-hak, Kim Man-bae, a stenographer surnamed Kim who worked at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office during the Daejang-dong investigation, and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back.
The People Power Party (PPP) objected to the DPK-led selection of witnesses and reference witnesses and requested that NIS Director Lee Jong-seok and former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (SDC) planning chief Dong-gyu Yu be included, but the request was rejected.
Former Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office chief Song Kyung-ho, former NIS planning and coordination chief Jo Sang-jun, Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office senior prosecutor Jeong Il-kwon, and Incheon District Prosecutors' Office prosecutor Park Sang-yong were removed from the witness list.
gowell@fnnews.com Reporter Kim Hyeong-gu Reporter