[Anchor]
If a ‘civil war special investigation’ is launched, it is expected to resolve the current issues regarding the legality of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) investigating President Yoon on charges related to treason.
However, not only is there uncertainty about the agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, but also it takes approximately a month to prepare for the actual operation of the special investigation, leading to concerns about inevitable delays in the investigation.
Here’s reporter Son Hyo-jung.
[Reporter]
Currently, the investigation of President Yoon’s treason charges is led by the CIO, but there is an ongoing controversy regarding its authority to conduct such an investigation.
The CIO claims that they can start an investigation on charges of abuse of power and then proceed with the treason charges as related crimes, but President Yoon’s side argues that the CIO lacks the authority to investigate treason and therefore cannot comply with an unlawful investigation.
[Yoon Gap-geun / President Yoon Suk-yeol’s Legal Representative (8th)]: The investigative rights of the CIO remain unchanged; they do not have the authority. The request for a preliminary warrant remains an illegal request.
Criticism that the CIO’s investigation serves as an excuse for President Yoon’s non-compliance is growing, alongside increasing calls for a special prosecutor.
If the ‘Civil War Special Investigation Act’ being discussed in the National Assembly is passed, the investigation will be unified under a special prosecutor who possesses both investigatory and prosecutorial powers.
Although the previous ‘Civil War Special Investigation Act’ proposed by the opposition party was withdrawn after being rejected upon re-voting, the Democratic Party has reintroduced a revised bill, including ‘recommendation by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court’, and the People Power Party has stated they will start discussions, which has opened the path to negotiations.
[Kim Yong-min / Deputy Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea]: The issues that the government and the People Power Party have consistently raised in opposition to the special investigation law have been mostly resolved in the process of submitting this new plan.
[Shin Dong-wook / Spokesperson for People Power Party]: It is currently under discussion, but to be precise, no decisions have been made yet. Even on whether we will propose our own bill, we might need to convene another party meeting.
However, even if a special prosecutor is activated, the timeline prescribed in the Democratic Party’s revised bill requires up to 8 days for the appointment of a special prosecutor and up to 20 days for preparation after the special investigation’s commencement.
There is a concern that the investigation into treason charges will be paused for about a month until it officially begins, and as an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties cannot be guaranteed, the outlook for the special investigation is not very promising at this time.
This is Son Hyo-jung, YTN.
Cameramen: Lee Seong-mo, Han Sang-won.
Video Editing: Kim Hee-jeong.
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