The special parliamentary committee to investigate the truth behind the alleged fabricated indictment by political prosecutors under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration ("special investigation committee") wrapped up its work on the 30th. The Democratic Party of Korea says the committee's activities exposed the reality of the fabricated indictments by prosecutors and plans to push ahead with appointing an independent counsel. The opposition People Power Party, by contrast, said the committee reaffirmed the legitimacy of the prosecution's investigation and indictments, calling it the Democratic Party's "self-destructive probe."

Chairperson Seo Young-kyo speaks during a press briefing of Democratic Party members of the special parliamentary inquiry into the alleged fabricated indictment by the political prosecutors under Yoon Suk-yeol at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 30th./Courtesy of News1

The committee held a briefing at the National Assembly that day and assessed that its activities concluded successfully. Committee Chairperson Seo Young-kyo said, "This inquiry left a clear and tremendous achievement in that, through reports and testimony from agency heads and parties to the cases, it pulled into the realm of fact for the first time the reality of political prosecutors' fabricated investigations and indictments, which had remained in the realm of circumstances and suspicions."

The committee says it confirmed indications that prosecutors steered the investigation in a specific direction through a recording of Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, who was in charge of the SSANGBANGWOOL remittance-to-North-Korea case. It also cited as an achievement former SSANGBANGWOOL Chair Kim Sung-tae's testimony that he had never seen President Lee Jae-myung.

Cheon Jun-ho, acting floor leader of the Democratic Party, said, "Through the inquiry, we thoroughly identified the reality of the fabricated indictments carried out by Yoon Suk-yeol's political prosecutors," adding, "When Yoon Suk-yeol picked a target, political prosecutors and the Board of Audit and Inspection moved in tandem. They carried out coerced investigations, manipulated statements, and conducted beyond-imagination excessive audits to bring about fabricated indictments."

The Democratic Party plans to accelerate efforts to appoint an independent counsel to hold those responsible for the fabricated indictments to account. Party leader Jung Chung-rae said the previous day, "As soon as the committee's work concludes, we will swiftly push for an independent counsel to reveal the whole truth without omission and bring all those responsible before the judgment of the law."

However, with local elections approaching, there is talk that introducing a special counsel bill could be delayed until after the elections. There was also caution about granting the independent counsel the authority to drop indictments in ongoing cases. Park Sung-joon, the ruling party secretary on the committee, said at the briefing that day, regarding whether to include the authority to drop indictments, "At this time, I cannot comment."

At a hearing of the Special Committee on the National Assembly investigation into the truth of the alleged fabricated indictment case by the political prosecutors under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration—covering the West Sea civil servant shooting, statistical manipulation, and the alleged fabricated indictment over "defamation of Yoon Suk-yeol"—held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 21st, People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won expresses dissatisfaction with the proceedings./Courtesy of News1

The People Power Party criticized the process as a "self-destructive probe," saying the committee reaffirmed that there were no problems with the prosecution's investigations and indictments and that it proved President Lee's guilt. It cited hearing testimony from former SSANGBANGWOOL Chair Kim Sung-tae and former SSANGBANGWOOL Vice Chair Bang Yong-chul.

Rep. Na Kyung-won said, "They spun a tale with a salmon sashimi drinking party and the 'Ri Ho-nam absence' claim, but it collapsed under denials from SSANGBANGWOOL figures," adding, "They were bent on erasing Lee Jae-myung's crimes and forced every sort of argument, but faced with the revealed facts, it instead became a national probe that cemented the Democratic Party's and Lee Jae-myung's guilt."

Rep. Lee Jong-bae criticized the move to grant an independent counsel the authority to drop indictments in the special counsel bill. Lee said, "The Democratic Party has destroyed Korea's judicial system and undermined the separation of powers just to grant a not-guilty verdict to one person, President Lee Jae-myung," adding, "Having a president who is a suspect appoint an independent counsel for their own case and even giving that counsel the authority to drop indictments is a clear violation of the Constitution and something possible only in an anti-democratic dictatorship."

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