A fact-finding team under the Justice Ministry's Committee on the Future of Respect for Human Rights in Prosecution will begin reporting its findings on the first group of cases selected for review on the 15th. Once the results reach the committee, discussions on follow-up steps such as dropping charges are expected to accelerate, depending on whether the team found circumstances supporting the ruling bloc's claim that the indictments were fabricated.
According to legal sources on the 14th, the team is expected to report findings on some of the seven cases chosen for the first round of review at a committee meeting on the 15th. The first group includes the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case, the Daejang-dong development case, the case involving Kim Yong, former deputy director of the Democratic Research Institute, the Wirye New Town case, the fatal shooting of a South Korean official in the West Sea, alleged statistics manipulation under the Moon Jae-in administration, and allegedly false reporting that is suspected of defaming former President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The real estate statistics manipulation case and the West Sea shooting case are among those cited as likely to be reported first. The statistics case has been classified as one in which relevant records were obtained relatively smoothly from the early stage of the inquiry, and the West Sea case is also said to involve fewer contested points and a smaller volume of records than the others. Part of the inquiry into the Wirye New Town development corruption case has also been completed.
Last month, the team sent written questions to the investigative units handling the real estate statistics case, the West Sea shooting case and the Wirye New Town development corruption case to verify how and under what procedures the investigations were conducted. The questions asked whether any human rights violations occurred during the investigations and what internal communications took place in reaching the conclusions.
The key issue is whether specific grounds are presented to support illegal investigative practices such as fabrication of evidence or inducement and intimidation of those involved in the cases. A finding that the investigations had some shortcomings carries very different weight for follow-up steps than a finding that there were unlawful acts undermining the legitimacy of the indictments. What facts the team confirmed and how it assessed them could determine the direction of the committee's recommendation.
If the committee concludes on the basis of the findings that the cases amount to what has been called fabricated indictment, it could use that as grounds to recommend a formal investigation or the withdrawal of charges. With President Lee having asked the National Assembly at a news conference on the 18th of last month to delete the provision on withdrawing charges from the special counsel bill on fabricated indictments and then pass it, observers say the possibility remains open of charges being dropped through the Public Prosecution Agency rather than a special counsel. If the committee concludes that there were serious legal violations in the indictments in the criminal cases involving President Lee, the possibility that prosecutors themselves move to withdraw the charges cannot be ruled out.
With the process of nominating candidates for prosecutor general having begun the previous day, the chances have grown that the committee's recommendation on withdrawing charges will coincide with the timing of the appointment of a new prosecutor general. Lee Jung-hyun, deputy chief of the Public Prosecution Agency, who is currently serving as acting prosecutor general, said on his first day at work on the 23rd of last month, when asked about the possibility of charges being dropped in cases involving President Lee, that "the fact-finding team's inquiry is under way, so we will need to look at the results."