Rep. Park Chan-dae, former floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, on Thursday pledged to introduce a bill to establish a special commission tasked with investigating "politically motivated" prosecutions, including charges against President Lee Jae Myung.
The move is considered part of the liberal bloc's broader proposal to carry out a reform of the prosecution.
Park, a three-time lawmaker who is running against Rep. Jung Chung-rae for the post of ruling party chair, told reporters he would use his legislative power to "salvage victims" who had suffered attempts by the prosecution to fabricate evidence against them, or abuse its power to falsely accuse victims of a crime.
Park claimed that President Lee had fallen victim to politically motivated prosecutions and that the disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol was the mastermind behind them. Yoon was named prosecutor general by liberal President Moon Jae-in in 2019 and resigned under pressure in March 2021.
"Under the Yoon administration, politically motivated prosecutors carried out investigations based on fabricated evidence and brought unjust charges against (innocent people), which was deemed a violence that destroyed social justice and democracy," Park said in a news conference at the National Assembly.
"President Lee was one such victim. The prosecution under the auspices of the Yoon regime carried out searches and seizures over 400 times, but they could not find any evidence against him, so they fabricated the evidence and brought charges based on false statements, " Park also said.
A new commission will be established to determine whether a certain criminal case was based on political or other motivations of the prosecutors, Park said. If the commission finds the prosecutors' irregularities, they would be subject to penalties or impeachment, he added, while the accused will see their court case closed and cases that reached a final court verdict can undergo a retrial.
According to Park's office, the timing of Park's bill proposal has yet to be confirmed. Details regarding the composition of the new commission also remain undetermined, but the concept would be similar to an independent committee, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, led by a ministerial-level figure.
All five of Lee's criminal cases have been suspended after his inauguration, the most recent of which was postponed on Tuesday. Lee came close to losing his eligibility to run for president in the June election due to a verdict from the Supreme Court, which found him guilty of making false claims during his 2022 presidential campaigning period, where he lost to Yoon.
Lee was also accused of involvement in a high-profile land corruption scandal in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. He faced charges of breach of trust by colluding with private-sector developers that resulted in financial losses of at least 500 billion won ($366 million) for a state-run land developer in the mid-2010s, though this case was opened after Yoon had left the prosecution and before he was elected president.
Lee also faced criminal charges for alleged involvement in unlawful money transfers to North Korea. Lee's other two trials centered on his alleged embezzlement and instigation of perjury, respectively.
Park is currently behind in the race for the ruling party leadership; the party primary is set to end in early August.
Meanwhile, Bong Wook, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, said in a briefing Thursday that the Lee administration's push for a major reform to curb prosecutors' power by splitting the organization into two — with one dedicated to investigating into a crime and the other to indictments — will "proceed without a hitch," without further elaborating on its development.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
