Democratic Party of Korea bets on independent investigation to bring down suspended president

President Yoon Suk Yeol (Getty Images)
President Yoon Suk Yeol (Getty Images)

President Yoon Suk Yeol is under investigation by the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials over his sudden declaration of martial law last Dec. 3, and whether it constitutes insurrection and other crimes.

Separately, the National Assembly has just launched a monthlong investigation to look into Yoon’s botched imposition of martial law.

On top of the law enforcement and parliamentary investigations, the Democratic Party of Korea is pushing hard to get a special counsel to investigate the suspended president. Here’s why.

What are special counsels?

To date, there have been 15 special counsel investigations since the Act on the Appointment of Special Prosecutors was first introduced in 1999. Four former presidents -- Roh Moo-hyun, Lee Myung-bak, Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in -- have had their or their associates’ allegations investigated by a special counsel. “Chaebol” conglomerates including Samsung and Hyundai have been targeted by special counsel investigations as well.

  • How is a special counsel picked?

The National Assembly passes a bill for the president -- or currently, the acting president -- to review a pool of candidates selected by opposition parties, lawyers or chief justices, depending on the case. The candidate then must earn majority approval by a committee comprising seven members before they can be appointed by the president.

  • What are the special counsel’s duties?

The special counsel investigation process was introduced to enable a politically neutral and independent route for investigating the country’s most powerful figures. A special counsel is endowed with the authority to investigate and indict in a given case, and to request cooperation from the prosecution service and the police. Up to 35 prosecutors and officials can be dispatched to aid the special counsel investigation.

Why does the Democratic Party push for a special counsel investigation?

The Democratic Party fought to hand the Yoon investigation over to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, deeming the anti-corruption investigative office, created by liberal previous President Moon Jae-in, to be more of an ally than prosecutors.

The unofficial consensus within the main opposition, however, is that the CIO is not competent enough to be entrusted with difficult investigations such as this one against Yoon.

“If it had been the prosecution which was handling the investigation, they would have had Yoon arrested in no time,” Democratic Party Rep. Lee Geon-tae, a former prosecutor, told The Korea Herald. According to Lee, the CIO does not have the investigative resources and experience of the prosecution.

Still, the Democratic Party is unwilling to let the prosecution take charge.

The Democratic Party’s beef with the country’s prosecution service goes back a long way. For almost a decade, the party has campaigned on reforming the prosecution, which had led to painful investigations into some of its most prominent figures, including the now-jailed Cho Kuk, who was Moon’s justice minister.

The CIO is in fact a product of the Democratic Party's pledge to overhaul the criminal justice system in a way that significantly reduces the prosecution’s authority.

After years of calling to strip the prosecution of its investigative functions, the Democratic Party would be contradicting itself if it were to count on prosecutors in the party’s mission to impeach Yoon.

While the National Assembly is leading another investigation of its own, its investigative authority is limited as a legislative institution.

That leaves the Democratic Party no choice but to depend on a third investigation by way of a special counsel -- which played a critical role in the impeachment of former conservative President Park Geun-hye.

History about to come full circle

Since the special counsel act was first introduced 26 years ago, special counsels have been summoned more than a dozen times to investigate high-profile power scandals and political elites.

Most notably in 2016, a special counsel and a team of select prosecutors concluded that then-President Park had allowed her confidante without an official title to be involved in nominations of government officials -- findings that ultimately led to her impeachment.

His role in the special counsel investigation of the former president is how Yoon, then a senior prosecutor, first came into the public spotlight.

Moon, who won in the election held right after Park was impeached, fast-tracked Yoon’s promotion and made him his prosecutor-general.

Yoon was initially hailed by the Democratic Party for leading corruption investigations into Park. That was until Yoon launched an investigation of Cho, a Moon ally who was seen as a potential presidential candidate until a college admission scandal involving his children led to his resignation as justice minister.

Feeling betrayed, the Democratic Party quickly demonized Yoon, once a liberal hero, making him synonymous with the “corrupt and powerful” prosecution.

If a special counsel is appointed, the findings from the investigation could hasten Yoon’s impeachment in the Constitutional Court trial, the Democratic Party believes.

Hustle for earlier presidential election

One key reason for the Democratic Party to rush Yoon’s impeachment is the imminent court verdict for Rep. Lee Jae-myung -- the party's chair and likely presidential candidate -- that threatens his eligibility to run for president.

In November last year, Lee received a suspended jail term over election law violations. If the ruling stands in the appeals slated for the next few months, the Democratic Party chair would lose his right to run for public office.

Lee, who was defeated by Yoon with a razor-thin margin of 0.78 percent in the 2022 election, has been leading in recent polls as the preferred presidential candidate, buoying the Democratic Party hopes of him winning the presidency.

But for Lee to clinch his presidential candidacy, Yoon’s impeachment must be upheld in the Constitutional Court trial in time, the outcome of which will be impacted by the results of the investigations.

Democratic Party Rep. Kim Yong-min, who is on the Assembly juidicary committee, told The Korea Herald that the launch of a special counsel investigation was anticipated to accelerate the ongoing investigations into Yoon.

But the passage of the special counsel bill, authored by opposition lawmakers, appears uncertain.

The the ruling People Power Party has questioned the bill over what the party claims are “accusations with no factual grounds.” In the bill, the Democratic Party accused the president of sending drones over Pyongyang and playing anti-Kim Jong-un broadcasts along the border with an aim of waging a war with North Korea.


arin@heraldcorp.com