ED Unfinished investigation

Prosecution should conclude probe of President

Independent counsel Park Young-soo’s team has handed over the records of its investigation of the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her friend Choi Soon-sil to the prosecution. Although there is still much to be done, it closed its investigation on Feb. 28 after acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn rejected an extension. The independent counsel team will announce the results of its four-month probe today.

The special counsel team made the most of the limited time and has made noticeable headway in getting to the bottom of the irregularities of some key figures linked to the presidential scandal.

The team won much public support particularly after Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Group, was arrested earlier this month on charges of bribery, marking the first time the head of the country’s largest chaebol was detained. Special prosecutors did a good job with investigations into the blacklist of anti-government cultural figures, leading to the arrest of former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and former Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun. The team also made progress with investigating irregularities at Ewha Womans University, where Choi’s daughter had been given favors in admissions and grading.

The special team, however, has faced criticism that it focused too much on probing Samsung. Its biggest shortcoming is that it fell short of investigating the President, who is the central figure in the scandal. The team said in its final briefing that it will book the President and her confidant as suspects of receiving bribes. Its investigation is therefore still largely unfinished, leaving the prosecution with a heavy burden to uncover the full truth behind the President’s involvement in the scandal that has led to her impeachment. It also failed to substantiate allegations of Park’s dereliction of duty during the day of the Sewol ferry sinking in April 2014, which is one of the grounds for the National Assembly’s impeachment of the President.

The special probe team’s investigation into the presidential scandal was severely hampered by the President’s persistent disruption. Cheong Wa Dae denied entry to investigators who were aiming to get more data prior to a planned questioning of the President, citing security concerns. President Park also refused to be questioned by investigators after she publicly declared a number of times that she would comply with the independent counsel’s request for questioning.

There are three things that the state prosecutors need to focus on from now on. First, the prosecution should fully prepare to conclude the investigation into the President and clarify wide-ranging suspicions regarding the nation’s first female President once and for all. Second, state prosecutors also have some more work to do regarding former presidential secretary Woo Byung-woo, who is also facing allegations of influence-peddling and personal misconduct. The counsel team requested a warrant to arrest Woo, which the court denied. Finally, the prosecution should expand the bribery investigations to conglomerates other than Samsung.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling on the Assembly’s presidential impeachment is expected to be announced soon. But the prosecution should not be swayed by this or other political factors, and focus solely on establishing justice through a fair and meticulous investigation.