Independent counsel may investigate farmer's death

By Kim Hyo-jin

Three opposition parties agreed Wednesday to push for an independent counsel to investigate the death of Baek Nam-ki, who spent 10 months in a coma after being knocked down by a police water cannon during a rally last year.

Vice floor leaders of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and the minor opposition People’s Party and Justice Party submitted a motion to the National Assembly, Wednesday, calling for an independent counsel investigation.

It is expected to fuel partisan wrangling over the cause of death.

The ruling Saenuri Party has insisted that the case was dealt with enough in previous Assembly hearings and dismissed the opposition’s move as a political offensive against the government.

If the motion is passed, Baek’s death will be the first case to be investigated through the standing special prosecution system introduced in 2014 as a pledge by President Park Geun-hye.

It allows for the designation of a special prosecutor and the investigation of controversial issues with the consent of a majority of sitting lawmakers or at the request of the justice minister.

In the past, parties had to pass a special law every time for a special prosecutorial investigation.

“Through the special prosecution, we will seek a thorough investigation into the cause of Baek’s death and the controversy over the autopsy, and punishment of those responsible,” Ki Dong-min, an MPK spokesman, told reporters. “We urge the ruling party to change its stance.”

Rep. Kim Kwan-young, the deputy floor leader of the People’s Party, said, “The ruling party is expected to cooperate as we have gone through an existing system rather than proposing a separate law.”

If the motion is endorsed in a plenary session, the National Assembly speaker will form a seven-member committee including the vice justice minister, the deputy head of the Office of Court Administration, the chairman of the Korea Bar Association and four more recommended by rival parties.

The committee will have to recommend two experienced prosecutors within five days of its formation and the President will designate one as the prosecutor in charge within three days.

The special prosecutor will investigate the case for 60 days, although the period can be extended by 30 days. The content of the investigation can be decided by negotiations between rival parties.

The opposition parties have argued that the ongoing prosecutorial investigation has not proceeded in a timely manner.

“For over a year, there was no announcement about the case by the prosecution,” said Rep. Park Wan-ju, the MPK vice floor leader. “The Saenuri Party lacks any excuse to oppose the special prosecution.”

The controversy surrounding Baek’s death was fueled after a court issued a warrant Sept. 28, enabling the policy to carry out an autopsy on his body to determine the exact cause of his death.

Bereaved relatives and civic groups stood against the move, insisting that injuries from the water cannon evidently caused the death and that 10 months of medical records sufficiently proved this. They say the intention of the autopsy was to seek other underlying conditions as the cause of death.

Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) has not acknowledged the direct cause of Baek’s death was the water canon that knocked him down and left him in a coma.

A committee at the hospital said that the death certificate that categorized Baek’s death as cardiopulmonary arrest caused by illness — not an external factor — was accurate.

But even some committee members disagreed on the cause of death, saying they believe it was from the external force that hospitalized him.

Bereaved family members have demanded the hospital revise the death certificate to no avail.

The family members are firmly opposed to the autopsy, which police have been pushing for to clarify the cause of Baek’s death.