Impeachment moved against top prosecutor

The opposition Grand National Party on Wednesday proposed the impeachment of Prosecutor-General Shin Seung-nam for his refusal to appear before the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

The party controls 136 votes in the 273-seat National Assembly, just one short of a majority. But its chances of picking up that elusive vote flickered when Kim Jong-pil, the president of the smaller, 15-seat opposition party, the United Liberal Democrats, told the JoongAng Ilbo that his party opposes the impeachment.

The impeachment call said, "Prosecutor-General Shin Seung-nam has attempted to cover up his implication in the financial corruption case of Lee Yong-ho, and has flatly turned down the parliament's legal request to appear as a witness, a clear case for impeachment." The party listed three acts that it said Mr. Shin had violated: the Public Prosecutor's Office Act; the Act on Testimony, Appraisal, etc. before the National Assembly, and the State Public Officials Act.

The opposition leader, Lee Hoi-chang, reaffirmed the party's resolve at a party seminar in Gyeonggi province. "I will not refrain from taking a risk, and will see things through as they must be," he said.

Mr. Kim gave procedural reasons for opposing the impeachment.

"Impeaching a prosecutor-general is legally questionable," he said. "If the bill passes the National Assembly, the prosecutor-general will be suspended from duty until the Constitutional Court makes a final ruling, which will create a leadership void in the prosecution." He added, referring to several recent financial scandals involving powerful officials:

"We have said that the prosecutor-general should resign, for the prosecution has shown a tendency to cover up things in the 'Three Gates,' but we do not believe in his impeachment."

Political analysts said that the impeachment issue, in effect, breaks off the loose cooperation between the Grand National Party and the United Liberal Democrats on several issues, including the resignation of Director-General Shin Kuhn of the National Intelligence Service, as well as Mr. Shin's proposed impeachment. Mr. Shin has been under heavy criticism for the prosecution's laggard investigation into the three financial scandals, named for their central figures ?of Chin Seung-hyun, Lee Yong-ho and Chung Hyun-joon.

"The Grand National Party's submission of the impeachment bill defames the spirit of neutrality guaranteed for the prosecutor general by the constitution," the ruling-party spokesman, Lee Nak-yon, said,

The National Assembly Speaker Lee Man-sup said that unless the ruling and the opposition parties reached an agreement, he would report the bill to either Thursday's or Friday's session.

The National Assembly Act stipulates that once an impeachment bill is proposed, it is to be submitted immediately for a vote within 72 hours. If the floor leaders agree, however, the bill can be reviewed in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, a long process during which it can be killed. The Grand National Party opposes and the Millennium Democratic Party favors handing the bill over to the committee.

If the impeachment bill passes the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court must rule on it within six months.

In refusing to appear before the committee, prosecutor-general sent a written explanation. "The National Assembly's request for the prosecutor-general, who is an incumbent prosecutor, to appear for questioning regarding investigation into criminal cases or exercises of indictment rights may have serious repercussions on the office's independence," he wrote.

As the news of the Grand National impeachment bill reached the nation's prosecution on Wednesday, prosecutors initially lashed out in heated anger.

"Is the Grand National Party attempting to render the prosecution ineffective?" a senior prosecutor said.

Then, as news spread of the United Liberal Democrats' decision to oppose the impeachment, the prosecutors visibly relaxed. Nevertheless, they said they would counter the charges, citing Article 65 of the constitution, that impeachment requires a clear-cut violation of the constitution and other laws by a government employee while on the job.

by Lee Yang-soo