South Korea's National Assembly passes special counsel investigation

A proposal to appoint special counsel for an investigation passed, but Yoon still holds power of appointment.

The Republic of Korea's National Assembly on Tuesday passed one of two special counsel investigation proposals floated by the main opposition mandating a probe into insurrection charges against President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The motion that passed in a 210-63 vote, with 14 abstentions, aims to appoint a special counsel by activating the Act on the Appointment of an Independent Prosecutor, who would investigate whether Yoon committed insurrection and abuse of power by issuing his short-lived martial law decree on December 3.

Instead of announcing a single, unified stance for Tuesday's vote on the special counsel investigation, the ruling People Power Party said ahead of the plenary meeting, that its 108 lawmakers would have the "freedom" to vote either in favour of or against the motion. As a result, 23 ruling party lawmakers voted in favour of the proposal, while 63 voted against it. Fourteen abstained from voting.

The proposal was approved by the Assembly's 18-member Legislation and Judiciary Committee the previous day, with the majority or 11 opposition lawmakers on the committee voting to advance the motion to the plenary meeting. All seven ruling party lawmakers on the committee boycotted the vote. It was introduced by the Democratic Party on Friday.

Besides Yoon, the subjects of the special counsel investigation include: former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun; Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who was named the martial law commander; Prime Minister Han Duck-soo; Counter-intelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung; and People Power Party Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, who recently stepped down from his position as the floor leader of the ruling party. They were accused of either directly committing insurrection or colluding in the act of insurrection.

By law, Yoon is unable to exercise his veto power over the proposal.

A legal expert told The Korea Herald that as Yoon holds the power to confirm and appoint the special counsel, among the two candidates proposed by a seven-member committee of legal experts and lawmakers, he currently holds the ball in his court.

The Act on the Appointment of an Independent Prosecutor states that the president must appoint the special counsel within three days after the committee picks the two candidates, but it does not specify a punishment for the president if he fails to meet the deadline. But abusing this loophole could ultimately become a liability for Yoon, the expert explained.

"Yoon could ultimately refuse to appoint the special counsel, but this would be added to the grounds for Yoon's impeachment," Han Sang-hie, a professor at Konkuk University Law School said via phone.

If the motion is finalised, then the ongoing separate investigations by the prosecution, police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials would temporarily halt to support the special counsel probe, according to Han.

"It would become a system in which the law enforcement agencies would provide the evidence they have collected to the special counsel," Han said.

The Democratic Party on Monday introduced a separate special counsel investigation proposal, which is initiated by the Assembly passing a specific bill for the purpose, which the main opposition plans to put to a vote during an extraordinary plenary meeting scheduled for Saturday. The party plans to put it to a vote alongside the opposition coalition's second impeachment motion against Yoon.

People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon, who has been gearing up to pursue a plan that would bring about "an orderly resignation" of Yoon, proposed on Tuesday to introduce the ruling bloc's own special counsel investigation bill, to other ruling party lawmakers.

People Power Party Rep. Kim Tae-ho told reporters that Han made such a proposal during a closed-door intra-party meeting around noon. "Apparently, Han feels that (the ruling party) has no grounds to go against any type of investigations related to insurrection (charges against President Yoon) and the martial law decree and that we must rather actively pursue it," Kim said. — THE KOREA HERALD/ANN