President Lee Jae-myung directly asks the National Assembly to drop the indictment-cancellation clause from the fabricated-prosecution special counsel bill

President Lee Jae-myung has directly asked the National Assembly to remove the indictment-cancellation clause from the special counsel bill targeting fabricated prosecutions. On the 18th, the president said that "it is right to uncover the truth through a special counsel investigation in cases where malicious investigative manipulation is suspected," while adding, "Please focus solely on establishing the facts." The president's direct request now pushes to the forefront the biggest point of contention in the cross-party battle over the scope of the special counsel's authority.

Why the indictment-cancellation clause became the sticking point

The fabricated-prosecution special counsel bill being pushed by the Democratic Party of Korea reportedly contains a clause granting the special counsel the authority to take over and dispose of previously indicted cases — in other words, the power to cancel indictments. The People Power Party and other opposition forces have criticized the clause as a device to cancel indictments in ongoing trials related to President Lee himself. Concerns have been raised that if an indictment is canceled, the trial itself ends, meaning the case could effectively be closed without any guilty or not guilty verdict.

On this day, the president asked the National Assembly to "delete the clauses concerning the transfer or disposition of previously indicted cases" among the special counsel's controversial powers. In other words, while acknowledging the need for a special counsel, he called for stripping away the structure that would allow the special counsel to intervene in existing trials. If the indictment-cancellation power is removed from the bill entirely, the related controversy is expected to die down considerably.

Key contents of the bill and its scope

The essence of the fabricated-prosecution special counsel bill is for a special prosecutor to investigate whether prosecutorial and other investigative authorities manipulated indictments for political ends. Rather than targeting individual cases, it covers the investigative process as a whole, with the special counsel focusing on examining relevant records and identifying those responsible. If the transfer and disposition clauses are removed as the president requested, the special counsel's role will in effect be limited to uncovering the truth.

The same day, the president also drew a clear line on suspicions that he might seek a second term through constitutional revision, saying he has "no intention of seeking re-election at all." His decision to raise both the request to delete the indictment-cancellation clause and his denial of re-election plans in the same breath is interpreted as a message emphasizing that the special counsel is not a get-out-of-jail card for himself.

Divided reactions from ruling and opposition parties

The People Power Party responded coolly. Floor leader Jeong Jeong-sik pushed back on the no-reelection remarks, saying, "Can we believe words that were forced out of him?" and arguing that "President Lee Jae-myung has reversed his positions many times, on pledges like 'I will not intervene in the real estate market with taxpayer money' and 'I will give up my immunity from arrest.'" He went on to criticize the president for never saying "he would see his trial through to the end," adding that "he has already concluded that the indictments are fabricated and is pushing for a special counsel." In short, the opposition says it supports uncovering the truth but still does not trust the separation between the investigation and the president's own cases.

The ruling camp, for its part, is expected to rally around the approach of preserving the purpose of the special counsel while removing the seeds of controversy. Since the indictment-cancellation scenario the opposition has worried about would be blocked at the source by deleting the clause, the bargaining leverage surrounding the bill's passage could shift.

Legislative process and outlook

For the president's request to be reflected, the Democratic Party will need to draft a revised bill removing the transfer and disposition clauses and resubmit it to the National Assembly. The bill would then go through the usual process of review by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and a plenary vote, and if the two parties fail to reach agreement, whether to pass it unilaterally would become the next hurdle.

From the opposition's standpoint, the president's request gives it justification to accept the deletion itself, but it may still counterattack by raising remaining issues such as how the special counsel candidate is selected and the scope of the investigation. As Mark Twain said, if you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything — and scrutiny of what the deletion of the indictment-cancellation clause keeps in, and strikes out of, the special counsel bill is expected to continue through the Assembly's review. Whether a special counsel focused solely on uncovering the truth takes shape, or the bill itself drifts adrift, will depend on how quickly the rival parties negotiate going forward.