United body needed to carry out probe effectively
The investigation is moving fast into allegations of treason and abuse of power against President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been imposed with a travel ban. The travel ban is the first for a sitting president in Korea's modern political history. It is the latest and a grave variable to appear on South Korea's horizons post-Dec.3 where uncertainty — detrimental to the nation's economy and public sentiment — continues.
No previous incumbent president has been hit with a travel ban, even in South Korea's turbulent modern history. That the Ministry of Justice was willing to grant it shows not only the gravity of the president's short-lived martial law proclaimed on Dec. 3 but also a deep erosion of public trust toward the president. A Korea Gallup poll announced Monday by the local vernacular Kukmin Ilbo found that among the 1,014 respondents aged 18 or older on Dec. 6-7, only 11 percent approved of the president's performance.
The three main investigative agencies leading the probe are the prosecution, the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea has also pushed through a bill for a special counsel as well, expanding the investigative bodies further. The overlap and confusion wrought by these agencies in their seeming turf war is hazardous as the nation looks for the truth.
It is with some relief thus that the prosecution, the police and the CIO have expressed openness to joining forces for the investigation that invariably is likely to lead to President Yoon. The National Assembly on Tuesday also approved a resolution to expedite detention of suspects including the president in the treason investigation.
As it stands, there is overlap and farcical running around among these agencies. The police had searched and seized evidence from the former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun's office and official residence. But it was the prosecution, looking into abuse of power allegations, that questioned the former minister in detention. The travel ban for the president however was requested by the CIO and granted by the Ministry of Justice.
Coordinating a united investigation unit requires the work of the presidential office and the government. After the president's Saturday message that he would step away from state affairs and the botched impeachment vote at the National Assembly, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) chairman Han Dong-hoon and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo have said they would lead the government under consultation between the PPP leader and the government. The two delegating for the president has touched off a beehive, with even some experts questioning the legal validity and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea going so far as to dub it a "second insurrection."
Thus, a united body putting various investigative powers into one headquarters to effectively investigate and call in suspects is vital to resolving the current uncertainty. All the more so, as the investigation into the former defense minister has singled out Kim as "colluding" with the president for alleged treason and abuse of power.
Finding out what happened in the late night of Dec. 3 and early Dec. 4 is important as the nation and the public reel from the short-lived martial law.
President Yoon said that he acted out of desperation against the opposition's "violence" in making the emergency martial law declaration. In committing a grand political faux pas, it appears the president regrettably failed to remember what martial law means for Koreans in its turbulent and bloody path to democracy. It means, yes, eroding what Korea has achieved to become the 10th-biggest economy in the world with strong soft power known as hallyu. It also means reopening the trauma of oppression and control, something South Korea had hoped it surmounted. An integrated, effective and thorough probe for the truth will serve us all.
English (United States) ·