Seoul, June 12 (IANS) South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday recommended three candidates to serve as special prosecutors to investigate former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law bid, corruption allegations involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee, and the death of a Marine.
The move comes as the presidential office asked the DP and the minor Rebuilding Korea Party to submit their nominations for each of the probes after the enactment of the three bills.
The DP recommended Cho Eun-suk, former acting chief of the Board of Audit and Inspection, to investigate 11 charges against Yoon, including insurrection and military mutiny, over his failed martial law bid in December.
Min Joong-ki, former chief judge of the Seoul Central District Court, was named to probe Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, over stock price manipulation, her acceptance of a luxury bag, and interference with the election nomination process.
The DP recommended Lee Yoon-jae, a professor at Myongji University, to look into the Marine’s death in July 2023.
The Rebuilding Korea Party also submitted its list of nominees earlier in the day.
President Lee Jae-myung is required to appoint the special counsels within three days of receiving the recommendations.
The appointed special counsels will have up to 20 days to prepare their investigations, with full-scale probes expected to begin early next month.
Earlier on June 11, Yoon had submitted an opinion to the police, explaining his planned nonappearance for questioning over martial law-related charges later this week.
In the document submitted by his lawyer, Yun Gap-geun, the former president claimed the summons for questioning on Thursday had no legal basis as the charges against him were not factually accurate.
Yoon has been booked on charges of ordering the Presidential Security Service (PSS) to block the execution of a detention warrant against him in early January.
He has also been booked on charges of ordering the PSS to delete records from secure phones used by three military commanders shortly after his attempt to impose martial law on December 3 failed, Yonhap news agency reported.
Yoon defied a previous summons to appear for questioning on June 5, according to police.
Earlier on June 10, President Lee promulgated bills mandating special counsel probes into a botched martial law bid by Yoon and corruption allegations against his wife.
–IANS
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