Park Kyun-taek, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker mentioned as a potential successor to former Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho, said on the 26th that a special counsel bill investigating whether President Lee Jae-myung's case was a "fabricated indictment" should grant the power to dismiss the indictment.
In an interview on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus," Park said, "There are parts where we need to gauge public opinion, and there are aspects where we need to seek understanding and gather views as we legislate, but personally I think it is right to include the authority to dismiss an indictment."
He explained, "Some misunderstand this as a rule for the president," adding, "The reason I still think it should remain is not to allow the special counsel to dismiss an indictment at will, but to require dismissal after it is revealed that, based on the special counsel's findings, the investigation and indictment were fabricated and there were problems in maintaining the prosecution."
He added, "If the indictment was flawed and there are problems with maintaining the prosecution, forcing someone to 'stand trial to the end' simply because the person is the president or a presidential aide—saying others can have indictments dismissed but not you—is itself an anti-human-rights notion and problematic, isn't it?"
To the question, "Even if the special counsel does not dismiss the indictment directly, couldn't the prosecution do so?" he said, "That would only be possible if we relied on the good faith of prosecutors and the good faith of judges."
Park said, "Even if there is good faith, we don't know how many years the trial process will take, and that can vary depending on circumstances," adding, "The president should be held to the same standard as an ordinary person. If something is wrong, it should be reversible at any time."
Regarding being mentioned as a candidate for Minister of Justice, he said, "I hope I am not a candidate," adding, "Although the Minister of Justice is a very important post, I worked at the Ministry of Justice four times across different ranks in the past, so my interest and curiosity about that work are not that high."
He added, "As a lawmaker, it seems there is more work to do in the National Assembly."