hankyoreh

Senior and deputy floor leaders from the ruling Saenuri Party and two opposition parties met at the National Assembly on the afternoon of Nov. 14 to agree on launching a special prosecutors‘ investigation into the current scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Sun-sil.

The move, which comes amid announcements of prosecutors’ plans to question Park, means politicians are rushing to respond to the sentiments expressed by the public in the Nov. 12 “million-candle” demonstration calling for Park’s resignation, while also putting pressure on prosecutors to investigate the matter thoroughly by promising their own special prosecutor.

With this development, the Saenuri Party bowed to public pressure in accepting much of the opposition’s game plan, while the opposition Minjoo Party and People’s Party reached an agreement to nominate a special prosecutor, opening up a means of investigating the President.

Under the proposed special prosecutor plan, the two opposition parties would nominate two attorneys to the President with 15 or more years of service as judges and/or prosecutors. Rather than having each party nominate one candidate, the plan would require them to agree on two, one of whom would be appointed by the President. It’s a system that would allow the opposition far more influence than it currently holds with the permanent special prosecutor, nomination authority for whom is guaranteed to the administration and ruling party. The prosecutor would be assisted by four vice-special prosecutors, 20 dispatched prosecutors, and 40 special investigators, with each aid commanding five dispatched prosecutors and 10 special investigators. Provisions were also put in place for punishment if the prosecutors and investigators provide notification of investigation-related information to their organization.

The special prosecutor’s investigation period would last a total of 120 days, or 30 days longer than the 90 for investigations according to the permanent special prosecutor’s law. Twenty days of preparation and 70 days of actual questioning would be granted, along with a one-time, optional 30-day extension. Unlike past special prosecutor legislation, the new plan would allow investigating during the preparation period. All content established during the preparation period from the current investigation by prosecutors would be placed under the special prosecutor‘s authority.

If the plan does pass the National Assembly’s regular session on Nov. 17, the law stipulates three days for the National Assembly Speaker to request the President‘s appointment of a special prosecutor, three days for the President to request that the opposition nominate candidates, five days for the opposition to nominate them, and three days for the President to complete nomination prosecutors - which means the special prosecutor system would be launched by early December at the latest. At its longest, the special prosecutor’s investigation would be expected to conclude around late March 2017.

Targets for the special prosecutor‘s investigation are to include 15 allegations raised about the Park/Choi scandal. Individuals to be investigated include Choi herself and several family members and associates, among them Choi Sun-deuk, daughter Jung Yu-ra, Jang Si-ho, Cha Eun-taek, and Ko Young-tae. Also included would be former Blue House secretaries Lee Jae-man, Jeong Ho-seong, and Ahn Bong-geun and former senior secretaries Ahn Jong-beom, Woo Byung-woo, and Kim Sang-ryul, along with companies and institutions such as the CJ and Samsung Groups, the Korea Equestrian Federation, the Mir and K-Sports Foundations, and the Federation of Korean Industries.

Of the fifteen investigation prescriptions in the special prosecutor legislation, the fifteenth is especially noteworthy, as it stipulates that “related incidents identified in the investigation process from provisions one to fourteen” would also be subject to investigation. This would allow examination not only of the incidents and figures specified in the law as special prosecutor investigation targets, but also a broader investigation into any additional incidents or figures identified in that process. It could also be invoked for the special prosecutor to investigate a seven-hour period when President Park Geun-hye remained unaccounted for on the day of the 2014 Sewol sinking - or to investigate the prosecutors themselves.

“The President is also an investigation target,” said Minjoo Party lawmaker Park Beom-kye, who drafted the plan. “The prosecutors would be able to question her if there are any allegations stemming from her relationship with [former Blue House senior secretary] Woo Byung-woo.”

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter

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