"Pushing through the special prosecutor act is the ultimate privatization of the judicial system for the president's benefit — it will be recorded as an indelible stain and the worst anti-democratic act of violence in constitutional history"

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. [Yonhap]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. [Yonhap]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon criticized the Democratic Party and President Lee Jae Myung over their push for a special prosecutor act targeting what he called fabricated indictments, asking whether they were "dreaming of the absolute monarchy of the Joseon era."

Oh wrote on his SNS account Friday that the Democratic Party was "ultimately forcing through the fabricated indictment special prosecutor act," adding that he "cannot help but feel dismayed at the reality in which all energy is being poured into eliminating the president's trial risk."

"Pushing through this special prosecutor act is the ultimate privatization of the judicial system for President Lee Jae Myung's benefit," Oh said, and went on to say that while the Democratic Party insisted there was no problem because it had removed the provision allowing withdrawal of charges, "the structure in which the president himself appoints the special prosecutor to investigate a case in which he is the subject remains unchanged." He added that the move "invites suspicion that the results of the special prosecutor investigation are intended to be used as grounds to overturn the existing indictment and trial against the president."

Oh said the act was "nothing more than a 'presidential judicial defense apparatus' dressed up in the name of a special prosecutor," estimating that around 30 billion won ($21.7 million) in taxpayer money would be spent and more than 300 personnel mobilized for an investigation lasting up to 200 days.

He said deploying national budget and investigative personnel to defend the president's personal legal risk was "an abuse of power that is truly difficult to find precedent for," and that "citizens feel not just anger but devastation at the fact that such things are openly happening in South Korea today."

Oh said that even during the Joseon dynasty, the "Three Offices" — the Office of the Censor-General, the Office of the Inspector-General and the Office of Special Advisors — existed to check royal power. "How much more so in a 21st-century democratic republic where the people are sovereign — if laws are being made, investigative agencies mobilized, and even judicial rulings sought to be overturned for the sake of a single president, what era of governance are they trying to bring back?" he said.

Oh said that if the Democratic Party used its commanding majority to reduce even the special prosecutor to a shield protecting President Lee Jae Myung, "it will be recorded as an indelible stain in constitutional history and the worst anti-democratic act of violence."

He called on the Democratic Party to "immediately stop the lawless rampage of shaking the judicial system, trampling the rule of law, and trying to turn back the history of democracy — all to protect a single president," and said that if the party continued to ignore public anger and showed no fear of the people's eyes, "what remains is only the people's stern judgment against the Lee Jae Myung administration."


ikson@heraldcorp.com