President Lee Jae-myung asks for removal of special counsel's power to withdraw indictments

President Lee Jae-myung has formally asked the National Assembly to delete the indictment-withdrawal provision from the special counsel bill targeting fabricated prosecutions.

It is a rare scene: a president stepping directly into the legislature to ask that special counsel powers potentially favorable to himself be curtailed. Regarding the "fabricated prosecution special counsel" bill the Democratic Party is pushing, Lee said on the 18th that "it is right to uncover the truth through a special counsel into cases where malicious investigative manipulation is suspected," but added, "Among the contested special counsel provisions, please delete those concerning the transfer or disposal of previously filed cases." In short, his instruction is for the special counsel to focus solely on uncovering the truth and not hold the power to overturn existing trials.

Why the indictment-withdrawal provision became an issue

Withdrawing an indictment means the prosecution retracts a case it has already filed — a criminal trial pending before the court. If this power were included in the special counsel law, some interpret that the special counsel could directly cancel trials involving President Lee himself. The opposition has criticized this structure as a means of effectively making the cases disappear before any verdict formally establishes the president's guilt or innocence.

The controversy intensified because the president's own cases fall within the special counsel's scope. The People Power Party has openly voiced concern that once the special counsel is launched, the indictments in Lee's cases would be withdrawn. Both ruling and opposition parties agree on the need for a special counsel itself, but have clashed head-on over the scope of its powers.

Content of the president's request and reactions

Lee chose to acknowledge the need for a special counsel while limiting its authority. The gist is to strip out provisions related to the transfer or disposal of previously indicted cases and concentrate the counsel's efforts on uncovering the truth in cases suspected of investigative manipulation. Analysts say this increases the likelihood that the opposition's concerns about withdrawn indictments will be effectively resolved through the deletion of the provision.

The People Power Party's response has been cool. Floor leader Jang Je-won — no wait, the party's floor leader Joo Jin-woo? —