[Editorial] Predetermined verdict

At a press conference marking the first anniversary of his inauguration on Monday, President Lee Jae Myung said there was no choice but to pursue the "special counsel bill on manipulated indictments."

He added, "I could direct the prosecution and police to establish a large-scale special investigative task force. That would be the normal and customary course of action."

He spoke as though he had made a concession to the opposition and public opinion by agreeing to the special counsel bill on manipulated indictments rather than establishing a special investigative task force. That claim is absurd.

The bill's central aim is to review whether the prosecution's investigations and indictments were justified in roughly a dozen criminal cases involving Lee and several of his key aides who were brought to trial.

Prior to the June 3 local elections, Lee told the ruling party to "solicit opinions and engage in further deliberation" on the bill. He has now signaled that he intends to put the special counsel bill into effect if the National Assembly passes it.

A key point is that, unlike previous special counsels, the special counsel to be appointed under the controversial bill proposed by the Democratic Party of Korea would have the authority to withdraw indictments.

This means that if the prosecution's investigation and indictment of Lee are found to have been improper, the special counsel could, on its own authority, withdraw the charges.

Amid growing backlash against the provision granting the special counsel the authority to withdraw indictments, the Democratic Party has postponed action on the bill until after the June 3 elections.

At a Cabinet meeting on June 2, the day before the elections, Lee told acting Prosecutor General Ku Ja-hyeon, "Anyone can make mistakes. If a mistake has been made, it should be apologized for and withdrawn."

He added, "The prosecution wields enormous power and should bear responsibility commensurate with that power."

The president's remarks seem to suggest that he regards the alleged manipulation as established fact and that the implementation of the special counsel law is therefore a natural consequence.

Given its track record of repeatedly pushing trough legislation unilaterally, there is a strong likelihood that the Democratic Party will sideline the opposition and push through the bill. The party holds 161 of the Assembly's 300 seats — an outright majority — and Speaker Cho Jeong-sik is a six-term lawmaker from the party.

Earlier, a National Assembly inquiry spearheaded by the Democratic Party concluded that "both the investigation and the indictment had been manipulated."

This is tantamount to sending an advance signal that "we have already decided what the final conclusion should be, and the special counsel need only conduct the investigation accordingly and reach the same conclusion."

However, the claim that the investigation and indictment were manipulated have not been substantiated either through a National Assembly inquiry or through an internal prosecutorial inspection.

Nevertheless, the president has signaled his intention to enforce a law that could lead to the cancellation of the charges against him, while the ruling party continues to advance what critics regard as a baseless claim.

The public is unlikely to have confidence in the neutrality and fairness of any special counsel investigation conducted under this bill.

Analysts say that the formation of a group led by pro-Lee lawmakers advocating the withdrawal of indictments, together with their push for the special counsel bill, adversely affected public sentiment toward the Democratic Party and its results in the local elections. The opposition candidate was elected mayor of Seoul in what was considered the most important race of the elections.

If the ruling party steamrolls the bill through, it will face an even stronger backlash in the next election.

If the party and Lee are genuinely seeking to uncover the truth about the alleged manipulated indictments, the provision empowering the special counsel to withdraw indictments should be removed from the bill.