Special Counsel Act on Fabricated Prosecution passes Assembly under ruling party’s leadership; opposition steps up street protests

[Financial News] The so-called “Special Counsel Act on Fabricated Prosecution,” aimed at investigating allegations that prosecutors fabricated prosecutions under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 6th under the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). The People Power Party (PPP) pushed back and began gearing up for full-scale street protests.
At its plenary session that day, the National Assembly passed, under the DPK’s leadership, the bill on appointing special counsel to investigate allegations of fabricated investigations and fabricated prosecutions by state agencies, including the Prosecution Service, National Intelligence Service and Board of Audit and Inspection under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The PPP opposed the bill and did not take part in the vote.
The DPK passed the Special Counsel Act after ending the filibuster requested by the PPP the previous day—a form of unlimited debate that is a lawful means of obstructing proceedings under the National Assembly Act.
The special counsel’s investigation will cover the prosecution’s investigations and indictments across various cases involving President Lee Jae Myung. Specifically, the cases include breach of trust related to development projects in Daejang-dong, Wirye New Town and Baekhyeon-dong; violations of the Public Official Election Act related to development in Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong; the Cash-for-summit scandal; and bribery related to sponsorship of Seongnam Football Club.
Cases related to former President Moon Jae-in are also included in the special counsel’s investigation. They include the manipulation of real estate statistics; the shooting of a South Korean official in the Yellow Sea and the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors; acceptance of bribes related to the employment of former President Moon’s son-in-law; the leak of classified information on THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense); and the alleged manipulation of the economic viability assessment for Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1.
The special counsel’s investigative team will comprise 20 seconded prosecutors and up to 210 seconded public officials, not including the prosecutors. The investigation may last up to 200 days, including a 20-day preparatory period.
One candidate for special counsel each will be nominated by the DPK and the PPP, which are negotiating groups, and by the Rebuilding Korea Party, which has the most lawmakers among the parties that are not negotiating groups. President Lee will appoint one of the candidates as special counsel.
The DPK introduced the bill in April but delayed its passage, concerned about a backlash ahead of the local elections. In particular, the controversial clause on withdrawing indictments was ultimately dropped during review by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee after President Lee personally urged the party to remove it.
The PPP delayed the bill’s passage through a filibuster as soon as it was placed on the plenary agenda the previous afternoon.
During the filibuster, PPP lawmaker Joo Jin-woo argued, “It is a clear conflict of interest for the DPK to nominate the special counsel and President Lee to appoint them,” adding, “If the special counsel directly handles the investigation of defendant Lee Jae Myung and his accomplices, that would go beyond a conflict of interest and amount to dereliction of duty and abuse of power.”
PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig said forcefully, “The special counsel probe into fabricated prosecutions and the dropping of charges being pursued by the Lee Jae Myung administration is, by its very nature, a threefold crime of manipulating truth, language and history.” He added, “Calling the dropping of charges intended to end the president’s criminal trial ‘fabricated prosecution’ is linguistic manipulation that deceives the public.”
The PPP is stepping up its offensive against the ruling camp, using the passage of the Special Counsel Act on Fabricated Prosecution as a springboard. It plans to hold an outdoor rally in front of Gyeongbokgung Station on the 7th and appeal to the public about why the act is unjust.
The DPK strongly criticized the PPP’s street protests. At a party leadership meeting at the National Assembly that day, DPK floor leader Han Byung-do said, “You’re staging street protests ahead of the parliamentary audit, and street protests even while the budget is under review—when do you ever plan to get down to work?” He criticized the PPP, saying, “I hope you stop these irresponsible political protests and fulfill your duties in the National Assembly as the main opposition party.”

[email protected] Kim Hyeong-gu Reporter