DP passes third special counsel bill to investigate first lady

The bill calls for a special counsel to look into suspicions that the first lady took part in a stock price manipulation scheme and interfered in the PPP's candidate nomination process through a self-proclaimed power broker named Myung Tae-kyun.

Self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun, left, and former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun, right, arrive at the Changwon District Court in South Gyeongsang for their warrant review hearings on Thursday. Their warrants were both approved by the court the same day. [NEWS1]

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday railroaded a bill demanding the appointment of a special counsel to probe allegations of wrongdoing by first lady Kim Keon Hee.

The bill, which passed in a 191-0 vote, calls for a special counsel to look into suspicions that the first lady took part in a stock price manipulation scheme and interfered in the conservative People Power Party’s (PPP) candidate nomination process through a self-proclaimed power broker named Myung Tae-kyun.

Myung, who allegedly used his influence with President Yoon Suk Yeol to push for the nomination of former PPP lawmaker Kim Young-sun in the June 2022 by-elections, was taken into custody along with Kim after the Changwon District Court in South Gyeongsang approved their arrest warrants.

The bill is the third passed by the DP in its efforts to establish a special counsel probe into first lady Kim, who has been accused of a wide range of inappropriate behavior, including accepting a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor.

However, the latest bill addresses only two of the numerous allegations against the first lady and grants the right to appoint the special counsel to a third party that is not the DP or PPP.

Political observers believe that the DP reduced the range of suspicions to be examined by a special counsel so that it could gain broader support from the 300-member National Assembly, where the PPP holds 108 seats, should Yoon veto it.

A bill to establish a special counsel probe into first lady Kim Keon Hee passes with support from all 191 lawmakers present after members of the conservative People Power Party boycotted the vote. [YONHAP]

Both previous special counsel probe bills targeting the first lady were rejected by Yoon and failed to muster the requisite two-thirds support to override his veto.

While individual members of the PPP have escalated their criticisms of Kim in recent weeks, the party’s lawmakers made clear their opposition to a DP-backed special counsel probe by boycotting Thursday’s vote.

PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho said his party will ask the president to veto the bill.

In a plenary meeting of its lawmakers earlier in the day, the PPP instead decided to push for Yoon to appoint a special inspector to examine allegations of corruption among the president's family members.

That decision follows statements by PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, who requested that President Yoon appoint a special inspector and scale back her public activities.

Han and other PPP members have also accused the first lady of running a clique of former and current Yoon administration officials, allowing her to indirectly influence the running of state affairs.

The office of the special inspector was established in 2014 under then-President Park Geun-hye to probe allegations of wrongdoing committed by the president’s spouse, close relatives and senior presidential officials.

However, the post has been vacant since 2016.

Yoon declined to fill the position when he took office in May 2022. A presidential official at the time attributed this to his preference to have all investigations handled by the state prosecution and police.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]