Opposition Mulls Creating A Special Prosecutor Post

Opposition parties called Wednesday for legislation to create standing machinery for the appointment of special prosecutors to investigate charges of government wrongdoing.

The impetus for the new proposal was the unfolding story of how government prosecutors handled the case of Lee Yong-ho, president of the G&G business group, who has been accused of embezzlement. Allegations of special favors and even bribery involving government officials have complicated the Lee case in recent days. (Related article, Page 2)

"We will be waiting through Tuesday for the results of the ongoing parliamentary investigation of the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office," said Lee Jae-oh, floor leader of the Grand National Party. "But the independent counsel to look into Mr. Lee Yong-ho's case, unlike the prior counsels, would be a permanent office which can come into existence with a mere parliamentary resolution when corruption cases come to the fore."

His counterpart for the United Liberal Democrats, Lee One-ku, said, "We will move aggressively to adopt an independent counsel if the prosecution investigation does not answer the public's questions."

Analysts are viewing the independent counsel issue as an acid test for the pact reached by the leaders of the two parties on Tuesday. The two floor leaders will meet Friday to see if they can strike a bargain.

To pave the legal ground for legislation that would give birth to a permanent office of independent counsel, a meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee will be convened Tuesday, the same day that a parliamentary main session is scheduled and the parliamentary inspection of the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office ends.

To date, the Korean Bar Association has recommended candidates for temporary independent counsels, when the need has arisen, subject to the president's approval. In the Kim Dae-jung administration, independent counsels have been appointed to look into the 1999 "Furgate" case when two sisters lobbied the then-prosecutor-general to save a business leader from punishment for corruption, and the rigged union protest at a state-run minting corporation in the same year.

The move coming from political sectors this time is to etch into law the institution of special prosecutor, whose appointments would be initiated by National Assembly members, and who would have broader jurisdiction to investigate other possible crimes linked to the main case at hand.

The planned legal initiative has a reasonable chance to get through the National Assembly, now that the United Liberal Democrats have left the government coalition and joined the Grand National Party in opposition. Between them, the two parties hold 146 seats in the 270-seat National Assembly.

The ruling party's floor leader, Lee Sang-soo, has said that the party would "consider the need for a special prosecutor should the public say that it cannot accept the results from the ongoing prosecution probe into the G&G Group case."

Other Millennium Democrats explained that that meant that "a temporary special prosecutor should look into limited and prescribed cases."

The Blue House has warned that it will resist the institution of a special prosecutor, perhaps exercising a presidential veto of legislation.

by Lee Sang-il