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S. Korean house passes law for independent Park scandal probe
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SOUTH Korea’s parliament yesterday passed a law that would allow a special prosecutor to investigate a corruption scandal threatening the presidency of Park Geun-hye.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly also voted for a parliamentary probe into allegations that Park allowed a secretive confidante to manipulate power from the shadows and amass an illicit fortune.
The bill on an independent investigation was passed by a vote of 196 to 10 with 14 abstentions in the 300-seat house. It came as state prosecutors prepared to indict Park’s friend by Sunday. Prosecutors had sought to question Park this week, but her lawyer yesterday asked for more time.
“I will do my best to prepare my arguments as quickly as I can and cooperate so that the investigation of the president can happen next week,” Yoo Yeong-ha, Park’s lawyer, said in a statement.
An independent investigation would increase the pressure on Park, who has been facing growing calls by opposition lawmakers to resign. Although emboldened by a wave of massive protests, opposition parties have yet to seriously push for Park’s impeachment over fears of triggering a backlash from conservative voters and negatively impacting next year’s presidential election.
Park has 15 days to sign off on the law or use her constitutional right to reject it, although that’s considered unlikely.
Park has apologized for letting her friend Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a late cult leader who emerged as Park’s mentor in the 1970s, edit some of her draft speeches and for the public anger caused by the scandal. But she has not commented on the most damning claims that she let Choi manipulate important government decisions on policy and personnel.
Under South Korea’s Constitution, the president has immunity from prosecution except in cases of treason, but she can be investigated.
The law passed yesterday requires Park to select a special prosecutor among two candidates proposed by the opposition to lead a probe that would obviously be aimed at exposing her own wrongdoings.
The special prosecutor can form a team of 60, including up to 20 state prosecutors, and will have 90 days to investigate and determine whether to pursue charges. The investigation period can be extended to 120 days, but only if Park approves.
Choi, who prosecutors arrested earlier this month, has been suspected of interfering with government decisions on policy and personnel despite holding no official government job, and exploiting her presidential ties to bully companies into donating tens of millions of dollars to organizations she controlled.
Park has 15 months left in her term. If she steps down before the end of it, an election must be held within 60 days.
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