Conflict flares over special counsel bill on Marine's death

The Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee holds a meeting over the third version of the special counsel probe bill into the death of a young Marine in western Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

Tensions between the rival parties have escalated in recent days over the opposition's move to float a revised version of a special counsel probe bill into the death of a young Marine, as it claimed to have added an earlier suggestion from the ruling party leader into the latest version of the legislation.

On Wednesday, the ruling People Power Party and main opposition Democratic Party of Korea clashed over opposition parties' move to propose the latest and fourth version of the bill that mandates a special counsel to investigate allegations that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, including the president himself, exerted external pressure on an internal military probe into the death of young Marine Cpl. Chae Su-geun in July 2023.

A key difference between the latest version and the previous bills is that it partially reflects a pledge made by People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon in June, when he was running in the race to be the ruling party leader, to float a bill that would push for a probe led by a special counsel appointed by a "third party," most likely the Supreme Court chief justice.

The People Power Party, in a statement released Wednesday, requested that the main opposition retract its proposal.

"If the Democratic Party seeks normalization of the Assembly, then it should retract its proposal of the bill that only looks like it mandates third party appointment on the surface," it said.

Democratic Party Floor Leader Rep. Park Chan-dae called for Han to "keep his promise with the public," saying the ruling party leader should respect the opposition's decision to reflect his idea in the latest version of the bill, during his address made at the Assembly in the morning.

People Power Party Chair Han told reporters the previous day that the latest version of the bill "reflects very little change" and added that his stance on the legislation "remains the same."

The first two versions of the bill, which were both pushed through unilaterally by the main opposition and passed by the opposition-led National Assembly, were vetoed by Yoon in May and July this year before being ultimately scrapped. The Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, led by the opposition, has started to review the third version of the bill on Monday, a day after the opposition introduced the fourth and latest version of the bill.

The latest version allows the Supreme Court chief justice to nominate four counsel members, among whom the main opposition would narrow down to two nominees for the president to ultimately choose from. Yoon would be able to name one of the four nominees if the bill passes into law. Additionally, the opposition would be able to request the Assembly speaker veto the four nominees picked by the top court judge if the lawmakers deem they're unfit for the role.

According to the bill, the counsel can include up to 30 dispatched prosecutors and 60 dispatched public officials and four legal experts leading the group.

The latest round of conflict between the rival parties closely follows the first-ever official talks between Han and Democratic Party Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung on Sunday. Both parties announced in a joint briefing that the two leaders failed to reach a consensus on the special counsel probe bill, while agreeing to launch a special consultative body to discuss and carry out common livelihood policies.

By Jung Min-kyung(mkjung@heraldcorp.com)