The clash over the ruling party-backed special counsel bill is spreading across the political arena, with the conservative bloc claiming it is unconstitutional and benefits only President Lee Jae Myung.
The bill, submitted by the Democratic Party of Korea's acting Floor Leader Rep. Cheon Jun-ho on April 30, calls for a special counsel to investigate alleged fabricated investigations and indictments under the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
It targets alleged abuse by prosecutors, the National Intelligence Service and the Board of Audit and Inspection.
Of the 12 cases listed in the bill, eight involve Lee. They include development and sponsorship allegations dating to his 2010-18 tenure as mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Among them are the Daejang-dong, Baekhyeon-dong and Wirye development cases, as well as the Seongnam FC sponsorship case.
The list also includes the Ssangbangwool remittance case and alleged misuse of Gyeonggi Province corporate cards from his time as governor of Gyeonggi Province, 2018-21. It also includes his election law and perjury inducement cases.
The dispute centers on a clause that would allow the special counsel to decide whether to maintain indictments in transferred cases. Opposition figures say the provision could open the door to withdrawing prosecutions in Lee-related cases, some of which have been suspended since he took office.
Former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, who is running as an independent in a National Assembly by-election in Busan, said Sunday that such a move could amount to grounds for impeachment.
“If President Lee seeks a ‘prosecution-cancellation special counsel’ to block his own conviction and cancels the indictment in his own case, that would be a clear ground for impeachment,” Han wrote on Facebook.
People Power Party Floor Leader Rep. Song Eon-seog also denounced the bill Sunday, likening it to “a thief appointing the police.”
Song said that allowing a special counsel appointed by the president to decide whether to continue the president’s own trials would violate the principle that no one should be judge in his own case.
Criticism has spread beyond the People Power Party. Cho Eung-cheon, the Reform Party’s candidate for Gyeonggi Province governor in the June 3 local elections, held a press conference at the National Assembly on Sunday. He proposed a meeting of opposition candidates to block the bill.
Cho called the proposal a “judicial insurrection.” He said it was designed to cover up Lee’s legal risks through what he described as a “prosecution-cancellation special counsel” and a “crime-deletion bill.”
The Democratic Party has rejected the accusations. It says the bill is meant to uncover the truth behind alleged abuses of prosecutorial power under Yoon.
Rep. Cheon has said the party launched a parliamentary inquiry because it believed the Yoon administration had engaged in forced and fabricated indictments. He said the special counsel bill was needed to confirm, via an investigation, what the inquiry had uncovered.
Democratic Party floor spokesperson Rep. Moon Geum-ju also said the bill was “not a crime eraser, but a truth magnifier.” He accused the main opposition party of distorting the purpose of the legislation. He said the bill was aimed at reviewing the overall process of investigations and indictments, not shielding Lee from criminal responsibility.
Still, the backlash comes at a sensitive moment for the ruling party. The June 3 local elections are less than a month away.
Although the Democratic Party remains ahead in party support, opposition figures are trying to frame the bill as proof that the ruling bloc is using its legislative power to protect Lee from legal accountability.
Concerns have also surfaced inside the Democratic Party.
According to local reports, Rep. Kwon Chil-seung wrote Monday in a Telegram group chat joined by about 150 Democratic Party lawmakers that the bill could hurt the party not only in the country's southeast, a conservative stronghold, but also in the Seoul metropolitan area. He reportedly argued that the bill should be handled after the local elections.
Rep. Lim Mi-ae, who heads the party’s North Gyeongsang Province chapter, reportedly urged the leadership to consider the possible electoral impact.
Lee also appeared to put some distance between the presidential office and the bill’s immediate timetable Monday.
The presidential office said Lee believes “uncovering the truth through a special counsel and restoring judicial justice is something that must be done.” But it added that Lee had asked the Democratic Party to decide on the timing and procedure “through sufficient public opinion gathering and deliberation.”
Reform Party leader Rep. Lee Jun-seok criticized the remarks later Monday. He labeled them as a delay tactic ahead of the local elections.
In a Facebook post, Lee said the opposition should not be swayed by what he described as the president’s vague remarks. He said they should demand the “complete declaration of abandonment” of the bill.
The controversy comes as Lee’s approval rating has shown signs of decline.
According to a Realmeter survey conducted from April 27 to 30 among 2,006 adults nationwide, Lee’s approval rating stood at 59.5 percent. That was down 2.7 percentage points from the previous survey.
It was the first time in eight weeks that his rating fell below 60 percent.
In the same survey, support for the Democratic Party fell 2.7 percentage points to 48.6 percent. The People Power Party rose 0.9 percentage point to 31.6 percent.
Realmeter attributed Lee’s decline to a mix of economic burdens, including high oil prices and inflation, as well as political uncertainties such as labor-management disputes.
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