Ruling and opposition parties agree on special prosecutor bill over ballot shortage scandal

The ruling and opposition parties agreed Tuesday to advance a special prosecutor bill to investigate the National Election Commission's ballot shortage during the ninth local elections.

Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Jeong Jeom-sik, floor leader of the People Power Party, held an impromptu meeting at the National Assembly and agreed to pass the bill — formally titled the "Act on the Appointment of a Special Prosecutor for Investigating the Truth Behind the Ballot Shortage and Election Mismanagement in the Ninth Local Elections" — within the July extraordinary session of the Assembly.

The two parties agreed to form a citizens' recommendation committee to select candidates for the special prosecutor appointment. The committee will consist of six members, with each party nominating three.

The committee will receive three nominations each from the Korean Bar Association and the Association of Korean Law Schools, then recommend two of those candidates to the president through bipartisan agreement. The president will appoint one of the two as special prosecutor.

The two floor leaders also agreed that the scope, scale and duration of the special prosecutor's investigation — beyond the candidate recommendation process — would be decided through further negotiations and passed with bipartisan consent.

The Democratic Party and the People Power Party are expected to seek ratification of the agreement at their respective caucus meetings before moving forward with the legislation.

With the two parties now aligned on the special prosecutor bill, attention is turning to whether the long-stalled dispute over the composition of National Assembly committees might also find a resolution.

The Democratic Party unilaterally elected chairs for 11 standing committees on June 30, prompting the People Power Party to boycott Assembly proceedings in protest.