PPP lawmaker says rival special prosecutor teams are in 'self-inflicted chaos'

People Power Party lawmaker Park Chung-kwon said Monday that special prosecutor teams appointed to the Democratic Party's liking are issuing contradictory rulings and have fallen into "self-inflicted chaos."

Park made the remarks at a plenary session of the PPP's special committee to block the cancellation of President Lee Jae-myung's trial, saying "the true nature of the political special prosecution pushed through by the Democratic Party has been fully exposed."

"The insurrection special prosecutor classified a certain individual as a mere 'cooperator,' while the comprehensive special prosecutor has booked the same person as a 'suspect' — an absurd farce with no internal consistency," Park said. "How can this special prosecution claim any fairness or objectivity when it is tangled up in contradictions like this, flailing about without any standard?"

"The conclusion is clear," he added. "This grotesque, patchwork special prosecution has lost any reason to exist and every last shred of legitimacy."

On the issue of the special prosecutor act granting the power to withdraw indictments, Park said the structure — under which "the ruling party selects and the president appoints" — amounts to a president effectively installing a judge in his own case. "This violates the fundamental rule-of-law principle that no one can serve as a judge in their own case," he said.

He said eight of the 12 cases involved the president personally, and that the remaining cases were "no more than window dressing to shield a single person — the president." Park also said that after attempts to discipline prosecutor Park Sang-yong — who investigated the president's cases — over a salmon sashimi dinner and a cookie brand had failed, authorities were now pursuing disciplinary action over "mini kimbap and a hamburger." "The ruling party is targeting a prosecutor who carried out a legitimate investigation simply to cover the president's legal risk, subjecting him to petty retaliation — conduct that is truly contemptible," he said.

Park also said the Democratic Party was not only stripping away the power to withdraw indictments but was also moving to unilaterally abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority without observing the required 15-day deliberation period. "The Democratic Party, forgetting its responsibilities as the governing party, is kicking away the last safety net protecting aggrieved victims — all to shield a single president — and is threatening public safety," he said.

On the composition of National Assembly committees, Park criticized the Democratic Party for seeking to take sole control of standing committee chairmanships — including the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the final gateway for bill review — immediately after its local election victory. "This is an attempt to lay the procedural groundwork for passing unconstitutional bills without agreement between the ruling and opposition parties," he said. "They cry 'follow the law' while destroying it."