The presidential veto-proof 'Suspended Special Prosecutor' 尹 is possible throughout his term.

[News FM Lee Ik-seon Choi Soo-young Issue & People]

□ Broadcast date and time: October 31, 2024 (Thursday)
□ Host: Lee Ik-seon, Choi Soo-young
□ Performers: Lawyer Kang Jeon-ae, Lawyer Jang Yoon-mi

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

- Reason for impeachment if I don't appoint a permanent special prosecutor?
◇ Lee Ik-seon: The section of "Janggang, a famous restaurant in Shisa" is here. It was named after lawyer Jang Yoon-mi and Kang Jeon-ae. Lawyer Jang Yoon-mi's Jang, Lawyer Kang Jeon-ae's Kang. So, Janggang. I'm Janggang, a current affairs restaurant. We have two lawyers, Jang Yoon-mi and Kang Jeon-ae. Welcome.

◆ Choi Soo-young: The studio becomes brighter when the two of you come, but apart from the brightness, the question goes in sharply. These days, political circles are talking about permanent special prosecutors instead of special prosecutors, and a permanent special prosecutor to investigate suspicions related to Kim has been submitted to the National Assembly led by opposition parties such as the Democratic Party. Lawyer Kang, what is the main content?

★ Kang Jeon-ae: First of all, to explain a little about the permanent special prosecutor and the special prosecutor law, the bills of the Coporal Chae and some special prosecutor law were raised, and the bills were decided by the Democratic Party, but when the president returned to the National Assembly after exercising his right to request reconsideration, there are stories that four people recently left during the re-decision process. These were bills one by one. So, because the National Assembly is a legislature, it's also included in it the appointment of special prosecutors as legislation and the agenda. So, regarding Kim Gun-hee, when the independent counsel bill came up, there were about eight suspicions in the past, but recently, about 13 suspicions were included in one bill. And in the process of dealing with those things at the National Assembly now, 200 people are needed to re-decide. We vote anonymously. Recently, the re-decision is rejected in a situation where about four people are insufficient, so if it comes up again next time, if it is partially removed from the power of the people, the bill itself will be created and actually implemented when it is transferred from the re-decision. There have been talks about this, but it seems that the Democratic Party is preparing Plan B recently. So this Plan B is a permanent special prosecutor. Because when dealing with the Special Prosecutor Act as a bill, there are some processes that pass through as you said now. The president is expected to exercise his right to demand reconsideration, and the fact that a vote of departure from the people's power is something the opposition party has to lean on. So there's a bill that existed before. There has been a law on the appointment of special prosecutors in the past, and this only requires organizing the agenda. Then, since it is an existing law, the president cannot demand reconsideration of the existing law. So, as a permanent special prosecutor, let's resolve suspicions related to First Lady Kim Gun-hee. The special prosecutor bill is not easy in the process, so the Democratic Party is now talking about a permanent special prosecutor as Plan B.

◆ Choi Soo-young: The Democratic Party is going to push ahead because the president can't veto it, so what's in the permanent special prosecution?

☆ Jang Yoon-mi: The biggest difference between the permanent special prosecutor and the general individual special prosecutor bill is that the presidential veto cannot be exercised as you pointed out, so I think the Democratic Party needs to carry this out anyway. However, there is a considerable difference in the size of the investigation and the duration of the investigation. When it comes to general individual special prosecutor legislation, the number of dispatched prosecutors and the number of investigators supporting this prosecutor are basically set up to 20 people. However, the permanent special prosecution, which says the president cannot exercise his veto power, says that there are up to five dispatched prosecutors and up to 30 dispatched investigators.

◆ Choi Soo-young: It's slim.

☆ Jang Yoon-mi: It's slim. In addition, the investigation period is only 60 days plus 30 days to a maximum of three months. So it's small and short-lived, so the Democratic Party makes so-called split arguments. Regarding the alleged acceptance of Deutsche Motors and luxury bags surrounding Mrs. Kim Gun-hee, which has been around a large amount of money, it seems that they are planning a strategy to deal with individual bills with the Special Prosecutor Act and to quickly proceed on a small scale.

★ Kang Jeon-ae: You're saying you'll cut it like lawyer Jang said. Then, in theory, the permanent special prosecutor will be turned on November 10, the halfway point of the Yoon Suk Yeol government's term, and it can be continued for the remaining two and a half years. This is because it does not have to propose a bill again, but only on what to investigate, focusing on existing bills. Then you can investigate for up to three months, and new suspicions are continuously described as spawning every three months, and the Democratic Party of Korea says it can put them in, and there are 13 suspicions now. The Cho Kuk Innovation Party is also talking about the impeachment of the president. From the perspective of the people's power, there are fewer prosecutors to be dispatched and less time to investigate, but rather, it is an attempt to reduce the power of the regime in a form that can be cut off and carried out within the term of office.

◇ Profit line: Can I do multiple at the same time?

★ Kang Jeon-ae: Well, it's not impossible. So, as lawyer Jang said, the Democratic Party of Korea is proceeding with the special prosecution bill as a special prosecution law, because if 13 suspicions are revealed in the special prosecution bill earlier, it is not easy to organize all 13 suspicions during that period. Then, it seems that what they think is an important suspicion is that they will propose a bill and go in the form of a two-track that they will organize these things through a permanent special prosecutor.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: Regarding this, the Democratic Party of Korea is considering a permanent special prosecutor, Myung Tae-kyun, separately removing suspicions of Kim's involvement in the nomination, is it the same time?

★ Kang Jeon-ae: That's right. Now, the prosecution has finally decided not to indict Deutsche Motors and such things, but the Democratic Party is difficult to accept in that regard. So let's be judged again by the special prosecutor. And that's the part where they say they will proceed with impeachment proceedings separately for the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, except for the prosecutor general. Then, in the case of Deutsche Motors, investigations have been underway since the Moon Jae In government in the past, but these cases are likely to go with the special prosecutor's bill, and the parts that are coming out now in the form of suspicions, such as Myung Tae-kyun, are likely to go on a two-track basis using the regulations of the permanent special prosecutor.

◆ Choi Soo-young: If so, it's important what kind of person the permanent special prosecutor will be. However, the subcommittee of the National Assembly's steering committee handled the revision of the rule that excludes the ruling party's share in the process of recommending the permanent special prosecution. In other words, the Democratic Party of Korea argues that there is a possibility of a conflict of interest, but in the ruling party, if this is a parliamentary dictatorship, the special prosecutor will act as the Democratic Party's official, is this okay? Is there any precedent?

☆ Jang Yoon-mi: There was a precedent in the special prosecutor's office. For example, Druking's special prosecutor, Governor Kim Kyung-soo was sentenced to prison. At that time, only the opposition party, or the whole body of people's power, had the authority to recommend the special prosecutor. Even then. And if you look back, the investigation was aimed at former President Park Geun Hye during the state affairs manipulation case. At that time, only the Democratic Party had the authority to recommend again. That's why the key is how to recommend individual special prosecutors' bills, not permanent special prosecutors' bills. If there is a possibility of a conflict of interest, there is a precedent that has been handled like that, but the current focus is that the permanent special prosecutor's office is divided into two people and two people. There is a special prosecutor recommendation committee in seven members, and the president makes a recommendation to the president, and the president selects one of them. Aside from the vice justice minister or the court administration chief, the ruling party's share, and the opposition party's share is 2 to 2. This is an investigation targeting the president and his relatives. What the Democratic Party is trying to deal with as a permanent special prosecutor. Therefore, rather than applying to all the cases that are looked into by the permanent special prosecutor, the investigation by the president and his relatives is pushing for a proposal that sets the ruling party's recommendation authority to zero and the opposition party takes its share of four.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: But what happens when the president does not appoint a permanent special prosecutor?

☆ Jang Yoon-mi: So that's the key.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: Looking at the contents briefly, the President should appoint one of the recommended candidates within three days from the date he was recommended for the independent counsel. However, if not appointed, there is no punishment clause, according to the Permanent Special Prosecutor Act.

☆ Jang Yoon-mi: So the Democratic Party is also struggling. The discussion of the permanent special prosecutor was not that active in the beginning. Because we carry out the independent counsel. It was this strategy. As the president keeps exercising his veto power, it just becomes like a stamp. That's why the idea came to be based on the permanent special prosecution without the president's veto. What the permanent special prosecution also has in the Democratic Party of Korea is that even if the Democratic Party of Korea changes the rules of the National Assembly to the opposition party, the president and his relatives are now recommended to the president and one person should be selected, but the president can't approve it indefinitely. Then, what kind of penalty do you have when you don't pay for it? There is no provision for criminal punishment. However, some constitutional scholars and legal professions say that it should be done anyway. It is said that one of the recommended special prosecutors should be concluded, so if you don't do this, it is a violation of the law anyway. However, if there is a serious violation of the Constitution and laws related to the president, it is said that it is the reason for impeachment, so the president has such risks, but it is also true that there is no way to point when he does not.

★ Kang Jeon-ae: So, to change this rule that the president should appoint a special prosecutor, the law on the appointment of special prosecutors, etc., should be revised. If so, it seems that the Democratic Party wants to quickly deal with this in the form of rules because the revision of the law requires a vote in the National Assembly and these processes, but it seems that it is because they are now burdened with all the disputes over the bill.

◆ Choi Soo-young: But has a permanent special prosecutor been promoted in the past?

☆Jang Yunmi : There is. In the case of the Ferry Sewol incident, to find out the truth about the disaster, please... Although the ruling and opposition parties had different positions and decisions, there was a consensus that the truth should be found, so the special investigation was conducted first, but it was concluded that it was a little hard to get to the bottom of the truth.

◆ Choi Soo-young: Actually, when the permanent special prosecutor was announced, there were a lot of comments that it was not enough. As a result, there seems to be a theory of uselessness for a permanent special prosecutor.

★ Kang Jeon-ae: So when the Democratic Party of Korea went in the form of a permanent special prosecutor law, as mentioned earlier, it was not only that there was no punishment rule when the president did not appoint it, but it was 2020 when it was a permanent special prosecutor. At that time, a special prosecutor was conducted in connection with the Ferry Sewol disaster, and as a result, the investigation was conducted for about three months from May 2021. As a result, in August 2021, there was no evidence from the special prosecutor Lee Hyun-joo, so it ended with no charges. However, it is true that the people at that time doubted how all these suspicions were resolved. Therefore, I think the Democratic Party of Korea did not review the permanent special prosecution at first because there were cases in the past when the permanent special prosecution was passed compared to the existing special prosecution law.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: Let's recall a little bit of past memories. During the Park Geun Hye administration, in 2014, the Saenuri Party proposed a proposal to recommend four people in consultation with representatives of each bargaining group as the National Assembly's responsibility for the recommendation committee for independent counsel candidates, but then the main body of the Democratic Party, the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, opposed it.

★ Kang Jeon-ae: That's right. As a result, when it comes to conducting a permanent special prosecution now, it can be organized as a rule of the National Assembly, not a bill, so the ruling and opposition parties have limited the recommendation of two people to their families, but the Democratic Party is handling the revision of the National Assembly rules alone. The opposition party alone recommends four people. But in fact, the laws of the special prosecutor that came up recently were in a similar form. It was supposed to be recommended by the opposition party, so in the case of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party at the time, they would not just exercise the right to recommend. We even talked about that. This is a special prosecutor. As a result, the cases that the National Assembly decided at the plenary session that the special prosecutor's investigation was necessary for political neutrality and fairness in the Special Prosecutor Act mentioned earlier are subject to investigation. If so, this political neutrality and fairness were limited to family cases, but nevertheless, is it right to remove the authority of recommendation itself from the passport altogether? And now, seven people are going to be in the recommendation committee. In the case of the other three, it is the position of the third party to enter from the deputy head of the court administration, the president of the Korean Bar Association, and this. So what do the Democrats think about those three people? It is concluded that there is no political neutrality for them and that it should be four people recommended by the opposition party. So, as you mentioned earlier, it is pointed out that this is what some Democratic Party of Korea is trying to take control of both executive and judicial powers.

◆ Choi Soo-young: Lawyer Jang is like that. So, the National Assembly did this to ensure neutrality and independence, but is it right to break the ruling party's recommendation that there may be some conflicts of interest with the president's family? That's why some point out that the logic is at odds with then.

☆ Jang Yoon-mi: However, I have this rule that if the court looks into the case if there is a conflict of interest, it is a case that the person looks into, but it is avoided. That's why I can summon the past and criticize it, but I think the same rules will apply when the ruling party and the current Democratic Party of Korea are in power. In most cases, this permanent special prosecution is applied to cases with high media attention and public interest. However, in order to properly resolve suspicions on this part, it is necessary to take political neutrality from the beginning regardless of any political interests. Therefore, the fact that the president's spouse or relatives are subject to investigation, and the person recommended by the ruling party looks into this part, investigates, and maintains the prosecution seems to check this position because it clearly hinders political affairs.

◆ Choi Soo-young: And I'll give you one more question. To lawyer Kang, the Democratic Party of Korea was originally going to impeach Lee Chang-soo, the chief of the Central District Prosecutors' Office, and Shim Woo-jung, but it is said that the impeachment bill against Shim Woo-jung has been taken out. What do you think this is?

★ Kang Jeon-ae: That's what the legal profession expected from the beginning. Because in the case of Deutsche Motors, during the Moon Jae In government, Minister Chu Mi-ae was then Prosecutor General Yoon Suk Yeol in connection with this Deutsche Motors case. I used to deprive him of his right to command the investigation. And since it has not been restored since then, this is why the Deutsche Motors case was not reported when First Lady Kim Gun-hee was investigated at a third place, and when there was talk of why it was not reported at the time of Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, this is because the Prosecutor General did not have the authority to lead the investigation. If so, the logic that the Democratic Party of Korea will impeach Lee Chang-soo, the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and these people is that they have committed dereliction of duty. I didn't work hard. If you want to show sincerity about this. Shouldn't we also raise a question about Rep. Lee Sung-yoon?

◆ Choi Soo-young: Since he was the head of the Central District Prosecutors' Office in the past

★ Kang Jeon-ae: Rep. Lee Sung-yoon was the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office from January 2020 to June 21. There was a Deutsche Motors incident at the time when he was the chief prosecutor of the district prosecutor Lee Chang-soo. But when the non-prosecution decision came out, Rep. Lee Sung-yoon doesn't seem to have anything officially said or anything, but if the Democratic Party wants to be sincere, it should also raise a question about Rep. Lee Sung-yoon. I think so.