Knee-jerk presidential veto is not the answer

The majority Democratic Party (DP) and another opposition party passed two volatile motions on Thursday — one to investigate first lady Kim Keon-hee’s alleged stock price manipulation and the other to probe the suspicious bribe of 5 billion won ($3.9 million) each to several people involved in the Daejang-dong development scandal. Railroading two motions simultaneously to appoint two special prosecutors to dig into the two suspicions is unprecedented in the history of Korea’s legislature. The 21st National Assembly will most likely leave another disgraceful legacy of a ferocious political battle.

The first motion intended to find out whether the first lady was really involved in manipulating stock prices of Deutsch Motors between 2009 and 2012 is apparently aimed at damaging the governing People Power Party (PPP) ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections. The DP fast-tracked the motion in April to automatically put it to a full vote at the year’s end. After 70 days of investigation by a special prosecutor starting mid-February, the election will be held in April.

The scope of the investigation is also too broad and blurry, as it includes “all illegal acts” by suspects involved in the scam. That certainly goes against the principle of clarity in laws. The floor leader of the DP stressed that whoever is appointed special counsel can also look into the first lady’s alleged reception of a luxury handbag in return for appointments. The motion also mandated the president to appoint one of the two candidates for special prosecutor at the recommendation of the majority party.

The other motion aimed at investigating the so-called “5-billion-won club” could be used to defend DP leader Lee Jae-myung from his own judicial risks. Lee justified the motion by saying, “A person who refuses to accept the special investigation is a criminal.”

The PPP will request the president to veto the two motions, and he will most likely do so. But a majority of the people support the first motion to probe into the allegations against the first lady. In a recent poll, 67 percent backed the special investigation — and a whopping 73 percent of moderate voters supported it. That shows strong public distrust in the prosecution’s previous investigation of the first lady, regardless of the poisonous articles of the motion. Public opinion turned icy after the first lady had said she would only play her role as the president’s wife.

A presidential veto should be exercised discreetly because the first motion is different from the past one designed to give excessive power to labor unions in their battle against employers. The role of PPP emergency committee chair Han Dong-hoon is very important. If he makes a decision detached from public opinion, the governing party can hardly win the election.