SEOUL– The floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) vowed Monday to realize an independent counsel investigation into allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee was involved in stock manipulation.
Rep. Park Hong-keun made the pledge, denouncing last week’s court ruling that acquitted financiers in the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case allegedly involving the first lady, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations.
The DP has long accused Kim of also playing the role of a financier in the scheme.
“The prosecution, the court and the presidential office has formed the Trinity in an attempt to save Kim Keon Hee,” Park said in a speech at the National Assembly. “Who in the world is the president? Is first lady Kim also subject to the privilege not to get prosecuted? Is she in a sanctuary even if she is at fault?
“We should straighten up the collapsed judicial justice through an investigation that leaves no sanctuary. The only way left is a special prosecutor investigation,” he said.
The stock manipulation case centers on allegations that Kwon Oh-soo, a former head of Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW car dealer in South Korea, conspired with influential market players to manipulate the company’s stock prices.
Kwon was sentenced to a suspended prison term.
But the court cleared him and financiers of charges of stock manipulation carried out before October 2011, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations. That makes it unnecessary to look into related suspicions connected to the first lady.
The presidential office has said the ruling shows Kim is also innocent.
“The requirements for a special prosecutor investigation are not met,” a senior presidential official told Yonhap News Agency, referring to such probes being launched only when a prosecution investigation is insufficient.
During the speech, Park also accused President Yoon Suk Yeol of using the prosecution for political revenge against DP leader Lee Jae-myung. Lee has undergone three rounds of questioning by prosecutors over corruption allegations that he claimed were fabricated.
Another presidential official said the opposition’s demand for a special prosecutor probe is part of its attempt to shield Lee.
Some raised the possibility Yoon could exercise his veto in the event the DP gets a special investigation bill passed.
Park spent the remainder of his speech lashing out at the government, accusing the president of causing diplomatic, security and economic problems since coming into power in May last year.
“The bigger problem is that he is trying to overcome incompetence and irresponsibility through arrogant governing,” Park said. “The problem in the Republic of Korea in crisis is President Yoon.”
On North Korea, Park claimed that most of the general public considers Yoon’s “audacious initiative,” which offers to provide massive economic assistance in exchange for the North’s denuclearization commitment, is “not feasible.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency