The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is stepping up its push for a new special counsel probe into prosecutors' alleged power abuse concerning cases of President Lee Jae Myung and former President Moon Jae-in, submitting the bill for a vote on Thursday.
The ruling party is likely to push the bill through with its majority in parliament on Friday despite conservative opposition.
The liberal ruling party has claimed the bill is aimed at rectifying politically motivated prosecutions against Lee and Moon. On the other hand, the opposition People Power Party called the move an abuse of power to influence the judiciary and unfairly exonerate the politicians.
In a general assembly of the People Power Party lawmakers on Thursday, whip Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig said the liberal bloc "finally crossed the line that should have never been crossed" by "fabricating historical records of (the liberal leaders') past wrongdoings."
Jeong claimed the liberal bloc's move amounted to "the worst anti-constitutional, parliamentary coup d'etat in history of the South Korean government." He added that his party was considering options including protests outside parliament.
Hours later, the plenary session began to put the special counsel bill to a vote, although bipartisan compromise was not reached over tabling the bill.
The bill stipulates that the special counsel will lead an investigative team of over 300 staff for up to 200 days to look into allegations of fabricating evidence, influenced by former President Yoon Suk Yeol to persecute liberal politicians.
Their investigation will target officials of the now-defunct prosecution, the National Intelligence Service and the Board of Audit and Inspection.
The special counsel will also have the power to both investigate and indict.
This follows monthslong pause in the Democratic Party's legislative proceedings amid fierce opposition to clauses in the bill that could have allowed the special counsel to cancel Lee's criminal indictments.
To table the bill at Thursday's plenary session, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party, removed the clauses.
All of Lee's trials, including breach of trust involving a massive land development scandal, were suspended shortly after the inauguration.
The Democratic Party announced Tuesday that all of its 161 party lawmakers will vote in favor of the special counsel bill.
Meanwhile, the special counsel investigation widened to more cases involving Moon, including a bribery case involving his son-in-law.
The Democratic Party has the power to pass bills through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the plenary session of the National Assembly without the consent of the opposition.
"The purpose of the special counsel is not to overturn existing court rulings, but to determine whether any law violations occurred during the investigation and prosecution processes," Rep. Cheon Jun-ho of the Democratic Party said in a party meeting Thursday.
The parliament-sponsored special counsel will be the seventh of its kind since Lee's inauguration. They have mainly targeted criminal allegations involving Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee.
President Lee has the power to appoint the special counsel.
consnow@heraldcorp.com