The Comprehensive Special Counsel under a countdown “More extension of the investigation is needed”…also in a war of nerves with the Insurrection Special Counsel - 경향신문

This article was translated by an AI tool. Feedback Here.

Second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young speaks at the Jipyung law firm office in Jung-gu, Seoul, on February 6 about his impressions upon being named to the special counsel. Jeong Hyo-jin

Second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young asked the National Assembly to ‘amend the Comprehensive Special Counsel Act to extend the investigation period and reinforce staffing’. With fewer than 20 days left until the investigation concludes, concerns are emerging that the team is under a countdown without securing the custody of key suspects.

On the 1st, the Comprehensive Special Counsel sent an official letter requesting a revision of the special counsel law to Rep. Seo Young-gyo, chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly, of the Democratic Party of Korea. It asked to extend the investigation period by an additional 30 days and to increase seconded officials from 130 to 150. Launched on February 25, the Comprehensive Special Counsel completed the initial 90 day investigation period and extended it twice by 30 days each, and is set to end its activities on the 24th.

The Comprehensive Special Counsel has countered criticism that the investigation is slow by saying it is pursuing a ‘heavy tail’ strategy to indict more than 100 suspects at once at the end of the probe. In fact, it uncovered the alleged ‘diversion of budget for the presidential residence’ and on the 9th of last month indicted and detained Kim Dae-gi, former chief of the Office of the President, and Yoon Jae-soon, former senior secretary for general affairs in the presidential office.

However, as detention warrants for other key suspects have been dismissed one after another, concerns are being raised that the heavy tail strategy has failed. It failed to detain figures it had declared the ‘first case taken up on its own initiative’, including former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Myung-soo, former head of the Korea Coast Guard Kim Jong-uk, and former head of the Korea Policy Broadcasting Institute Lee Eun-woo. In particular, there were many instances in which the court expressed doubt about the charges themselves, saying there is “room for dispute”. It is also reported that no evidence was found for the allegation that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration intervened in the investigation into the Ssangbangwool remittances to North Korea case, which the Comprehensive Special Counsel had announced was “suspected of an ultra large state corruption scandal”. On the 5th, a lawyer who had served as a special investigations prosecutor criticized, “They tried to paper over a lack of investigative capacity by calling it a heavy tail strategy and have now been driven into a corner”.

From the perspective of the Comprehensive Special Counsel, because this is a high difficulty investigation to unearth remaining cases the existing three special counsels (insurrection·Kim Keon Hee·line of duty marine death) missed, bolstering manpower and extending time are essential. Unlike the three, it must find evidence for allegations whose substance has not yet come into view, so a longer investigation period is needed. There is also an opinion that the situation should be considered in which personnel with extensive experience investigating power corruption have been assigned to the three special counsels. The Insurrection Special Counsel and the Kim Keon Hee Special Counsel each have 70 prosecutors seconded, and the Marine Death Special Counsel has 30, but the Comprehensive Special Counsel has only 15 prosecutors seconded.

Whether to amend the special counsel law depends on the governing party that holds a majority of seats in the National Assembly. However, with the Democratic Party preparing for a national convention in August to elect a new party leader, it is uncertain whether it can focus on revising the law. There is also a view that an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, which would decide whether to abolish the authority of the prosecution to conduct supplementary investigations, is regarded as the top priority of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and may keep the special counsel law amendment from receiving attention. That said, Chair Seo is reportedly positive toward amending the special counsel law.

The Comprehensive Special Counsel is also engaged in a ‘war of nerves’ with the Insurrection Special Counsel as it books one suspect after another whom the Insurrection Special Counsel did not indict. At a briefing last month, Deputy Special Counsel Kwon Young-bin announced that People Power Party lawmakers Kim Gi-hyeon·Kwon Young-jin·Yoon Sang-hyun had been booked on suspicion of obstructing the arrest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, asserting, “The Insurrection Special Counsel has not done any investigation at all”. The Insurrection Special Counsel rebutted the next day in a statement, saying, “That is not true. We handled the cases according to the law”. When the Comprehensive Special Counsel booked Cho Seong-hyun, former Security Group commander at the Capital Defense Command, as a suspect, the Insurrection Special Counsel explained in a press release that it had decided not to open a case after considering several circumstances, “including that he actively ordered his subordinate unit ‘do not cross Seogang Bridge’”.

The Comprehensive Special Counsel also summoned and questioned four times, as a suspect, Hong Jang-won, former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, who had exposed in the National Assembly the alleged arrest team and had actively cooperated with the Insurrection Special Counsel investigation. There have even been instances in trials where the Insurrection Special Counsel is maintaining the indictment in which former·current military personnel appearing as witnesses refused to testify, saying, ‘it is difficult to testify because it relates to the suspicions for which we have been booked as suspects by the Comprehensive Special Counsel’. These are figures who had cooperated when investigated as reference persons during the Insurrection Special Counsel investigation.