DPK to table ‘Special Counsel Act on Fabricated Prosecution’ in committee today, push for passage on the 5th after dropping indictment-withdrawal clause

[Financial News] The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) will table the so-called ‘Special Counsel Act on Fabricated Prosecution’ at the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 4th. It plans to prepare a revised bill removing the controversial provisions related to withdrawing indictments and pass it at a plenary session as early as the 5th. A confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties is expected, as the People Power Party has vowed a hard-line response, including a filibuster (unlimited debate).
The DPK held a lawmakers’ caucus the previous day and adopted as party policy the ‘Bill on the Appointment of a Special Counsel, etc., to Establish the Truth About Allegations of Fabricated Investigations and Prosecutions, among Others, by the Prosecution Service, National Intelligence Service, Board of Audit and Inspection, and Others under the Yoon Suk Yeol Administration.’
The bill’s main purpose is to determine whether there were illegal acts in the investigation and prosecution processes of prosecutors under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in cases related to President Lee Jae Myung, including the Daejang-dong development corruption case and Ssangbangwool’s remittances to North Korea, as well as cases involving alleged statistical manipulation during the Moon Jae-in administration.
The DPK initially sought to pass the bill in the first half of this year but failed to complete the legislation as controversy over the provision on withdrawing indictments coincided with the local election schedule and other factors. It has now deleted the provision that drew the most controversy and is making another push to pass the bill.
The original bill allowed a special counsel to demand the transfer of cases that prosecutors were investigating, prosecuting, or maintaining indictments in. It also stipulated that the special counsel could decide whether to continue prosecuting cases transferred to it. The revised bill, however, will remove the authority to decide whether to continue prosecutions and the prosecution-maintenance work, and will also exclude the authority to demand that prosecutors transfer cases.
The DPK aims to pass the bill at a plenary session as early as the 5th after consulting with the opposition. However, the People Power Party is protesting that the bill is a step toward withdrawing indictments in cases involving President Lee, making difficult negotiations likely.
People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig told reporters shortly after the DPK adopted the bill as party policy, “We will consider every option, including filibusters against all bills scheduled to be introduced that day.”
Lawmaker Park Hyung-soo of the People Power Party, the opposition’s ranking member on the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, also criticized the DPK at a public briefing on the parliamentary audit held at the National Assembly the previous day, saying, “The DPK has finally revealed its devil’s claws in its bid to have the indictment of President Lee Jae Myung withdrawn.”
If the DPK pushes ahead with passage at a plenary session on the 5th, the standoff between the ruling and opposition parties over the Special Counsel Act on Fabricated Prosecution is expected to intensify further.

[email protected] Kim Gyeong-min Reporter