Comprehensive special counsel team faces extension deadline... questions remain over results

[Financial News] The Second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Team, led by Kwon Chang-young, is at a crossroads over whether its investigation period will end on the 24th or be extended until the 23rd of next month. The ruling party is pushing to extend the probe by another 30 days, but some are skeptical that it can produce clear results in the remaining month.
According to political circles on the 20th, the National Assembly opened a plenary session and introduced an amendment to the sweeping special counsel bill. As the People Power Party launched a filibuster in protest, the vote on the amendment is expected to be postponed until the afternoon of the 21st. The ruling party plans to force an end to the debate 24 hours after the filibuster begins and pass the bill with support from at least three-fifths of all lawmakers.
The amendment would extend the investigation period by 30 more days, allowing the team to continue its probe until the 23rd of next month. It would also increase the number of dispatched government officials from 130 to 150 and add obstruction of audits by public officials to the list of offenses under investigation. The bill also includes a provision to designate up to 10 special investigators with at least five years of legal experience as prosecutors for maintaining indictments.
However, questions are being raised over whether the team can deliver meaningful results even if the investigation period is extended. The biggest reason is the high rate of warrant rejections. Of the 17 arrest warrants the team has sought so far, 11 were rejected by the court. That puts the rejection rate at 64.7%, notably higher than that of the earlier Special Prosecutor's Team for Insurrection, led by Cho Eun-seok, at 46.2%, and the Special Prosecutor's Team for Kim Kun-hee, led by Min Joung-kie, at 31%. In particular, warrants sought this month for former Army Ground Operations Commander Kang Ho-pil, former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, former Supreme Prosecutors' Office Planning and Coordination Bureau chief Jeon Moo-gon, and former presidential office civil discipline secretary Lee Si-won were all rejected one after another.
The special counsel team said the repeated warrant rejections stem from the nature of this being a second special counsel investigation. At a regular briefing held at the team’s office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Assistant Special Prosecutor Kim Ji-mi said, "I hope people will take a little more account of the fact that this is a second special counsel." She added, "There is a difference between requesting warrants early in an investigation to secure custody and requesting them later in the process to uncover matters that have not yet been revealed. We think that makes things a bit more difficult for us." She also noted, "There are some reasons for the rejections that we cannot fully accept."
The team is leaning toward not indicting Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of being the ringleader of rebellion under the Military Criminal Act. This appears to be because the facts overlap with a case already indicted on insurrection charges, raising the possibility that a court could dismiss the case due to double prosecution.
Some cases have also remained stalled. Regarding suspicions over the route change of the Yangpyeong Expressway, Kim said, "No one among the related parties is giving proper testimony, so the case is at a standstill." On allegations that the Unification Church probe was suppressed, she explained that if the investigation period is not extended, the case will be transferred to another investigative agency.
Still, the team achieved its first indictment 104 days after launch when it arrested and indicted former Chief of Staff to the President Kim Dae-ki and former general affairs secretary Yoon Jae-soon on Sept. 9 over allegations of preferential treatment in the relocation of the presidential residence. Earlier this month, it also sent four people, including former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Myung-soo, to trial on charges of participating in important duties related to insurrection. On the 10th, it arrested former 1st Deputy Director of the Office of National Security Kim Tae-hyo.
The team plans to summon Kim Keon-hee on the 22nd and former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong on the 23rd for questioning.
[email protected] Kim Dong-gyu Reporter