Opposition finalizes special counsel plan over Unification Church scandal
Published By admin
The opposition parties on Sunday settled the terms of a special counsel bill to look into a political funding scandal involving the Unification Church that has spilled over from the main opposition People Power Party into the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
The newly appointed counsel’s scope of investigation will center on the Unification Church’s illegal contributions to politicians of rival parties in an apparent move to increase the sect’s influence on South Korean politics. It will also target suspicions that a Democratic Party of Korea-sponsored special counsel Min Joong-ki had allegedly acquiesced to ruling party lawmakers’ involvement while targeting ex-first lady Kim Keon Hee’s wrongdoings, including her ties to the sect.
Under the agreement, the special counsel will grant the Supreme Council and the National Court Administration the authority to recommend two candidates combined, one of which shall be appointed by liberal President Lee Jae Myung.
The announcement followed a lunch meeting on Sunday of the parties’ floor leaders ― Reps. Song Eon-seog of the People Power Party and Chun Ha-ram of the Reform Party ― near the National Assembly in Seoul.
The two conservative parties had been at odds the past week regarding who would be eligible to recommend candidates for the special counsel and what the scope of the special counsel investigation would be.
The People Power Party conceded its demand to target other criminal allegations against special counsel Min that are not related to the Unification Church’s bribery scandal. The concession also came from the Reform Party, which had called for the authority to recommend the special counsel candidates, considering no Reform Party lawmaker was found to have been involved in the scandal.
The two parties do not have enough legislative power to pass the special counsel bill, as they hold a combined 110 seats out of the 298 at the National Assembly.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea, with 166 seats in the Assembly, expressed disapproval of the special counsel push.
Rep. Park Soo-hyun, senior spokesperson of the Democratic Party, told reporters Sunday that the ruling party was not reviewing chances of cooperating with opposition parties in launching a new special counsel “unless new findings emerge.”
Following Lee’s inauguration in June, the Democratic Party unilaterally passed bills to launch three special counsels into allegations, each dedicated to disgraced ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s insurrection, Yoon’s abuse of power concerning a probe into a Marine soldier’s death, and his wife Kim’s corruption.
Special counsel Min, targeting Kim’s corruption, sought a four-year prison term of ex-floor leader of the People Power Party Rep. Kweon Seong-dong for illegally receiving political funds worth 100 million won ($67,500) from a high-ranking official of the Unification Church in 2022.
The special counsel, however, referred the case of ex-Oceans Minister Chun Jae-soo to police four months after it learned about Chun’s allegations of having received contributions from the Unification Church in 2018. The revelation led to Chun’s decision on Dec. 11 to resign from the Oceans Minister post, while a police probe into Chun is ongoing.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, an independent body for crime investigation separate from the prosecution, launched a probe into special counsel Min on Saturday concerning professional negligence. The office cited his failure to refer the case concerning liberal politicians’ alleged violation of the Political Funds Act to the police until the media revelation.
In early December, the special counsel team denied speculations that it had deliberately sidelined Chun’s case, while adding that cases involving Democratic Party politicians had nothing to do with Yoon’s wife Kim, and therefore were not fit for its purpose of operation.
Reform Party Chair Rep. Lee Jun-seok, who floated the launch of the special counsel probe, was questioned by special counsel Min’s team as a suspect Sunday for alleged collusion with the Yoon couple in 2022 to help them interfere in the party’s election-related affairs. Back then, Lee was the chair of the People Power Party.
Content retrieved from: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10640873.
