Na Kyung-won calls special prosecutor probe a 'zombie' waste of public funds, warns of consequences

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won warned Tuesday that those behind the extension and expansion of the so-called comprehensive special prosecutor probe — driven by the Democratic Party of Korea and the broader pan-ruling coalition to investigate three major cases involving alleged insurrection, Kim Keon Hee and the death of a Marine corporal — would face consequences, calling the probe a "zombie special prosecutor."

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Na said the Democratic Party had "forcibly pushed through the malicious law extending and expanding its politically directed special prosecutor" at a plenary session, adding that it was "the only bill they rushed through even before the Assembly's committee structure had been formed."

She said the opposition's filibuster — its primary tool of resistance — had been "forcibly terminated and rendered powerless," and accused the ruling camp of "summoning only opposition figures one after another to create a climate of political repression."

Na claimed that about 40 billion won ($27 million) in taxpayer money had been poured into what she called the "fabricated" special prosecutor probe so far, and alleged that the second comprehensive special prosecutor office was concealing how it had spent nearly 10 billion won of its budget.

"Warrants have been rejected one after another, and the investigative record is a complete failure," she said. She added that if a private company's finances were squandered in such a manner, President Lee Jae Myung and the Democratic Party "would rightly face punishment for breach of fiduciary duty."

Na further argued that the Lee Jae Myung administration was "focused solely on political retaliation and harping on about insurrection, with people's livelihoods completely on the back burner." She called on the public to hold the Democratic Party and the special prosecutor accountable for wasting taxpayer money and causing losses to the national treasury, and to "shut down the political special prosecutor early."

She added that lawmakers who voted in favor of what she described as wasteful spending, political retaliation and the "special prosecutor evil law" should "bear lasting liability to the public for the treasury losses incurred." Na warned that "the atrocity of fabricating nonexistent crimes and distorting the law through a zombie special prosecutor and insurrection obsession will inevitably face judicial and historical consequences."

Meanwhile, the pan-ruling coalition led by the Democratic Party ended the People Power Party's 24-hour filibuster at a plenary session Tuesday afternoon and passed the amendment to the comprehensive special prosecutor act with 173 votes in favor out of 173 members present.

Lawmakers from the People Power Party and the Reform Party did not participate.