Efforts to extend the ongoing special investigation into President Park Geun-hye’s corruption scandal were effectively thwarted Thursday.

Having failed to put the extension to a parliamentary vote, opposition parties once again turned to Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who holds the authority to prolong the investigation upon his right as acting president. Chances, however, remain slim as Hwang has persistently expressed disapproval on granting the extra period to the investigators.
 
The floor leaders of rival parties visited Parliamentary Speaker Chung Sye-kyun in the morning to discuss having the speaker exercise his authority and motion the revision bill of the Independent Counsel Law, so as to extend the investigation period from the current 70 days to 120 days.

But they failed to reach a consensus, mostly due to resistance from the ruling Liberty Korea Party, the home party of the suspended president.

Speaker Chung, too, is said to have reiterated his earlier claim that the current circumstances do not meet the prerequisite for a direct call for a full parliamentary vote, though he did add that the acting president needs to acknowledge the need to extend the investigation.

As for the investigation team, it earlier submitted a request to the acting president to ask for a one-month extension in the investigation period, but was only faced with inaction from Hwang.

“(Regarding the probe team’s request to extend its term), we have not received any notification from Hwang,” said Lee Kyu-chul, the spokesperson representing the probe team, at a press briefing Thursday.

Hwang’s apparent unwillingness to approve the request has received backlash from the opposition.

“If Hwang does not give the approval, he would be violating his authority, which constitutes as grounds for impeachment by parliament,” said Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the floor leader of the Democratic Party.

As prospects of the extension to its term faded, the probe team looks set to wrap up its investigation with key allegations remaining unresolved.

The lack of time also led the investigators to give up on carrying out a raid of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

After failing to seize and search the Blue House earlier this month, the team filed a lawsuit to the Seoul Administrative Court to nullify the presidential office’s rejection -- a case recently dismissed by the court.

Faced with the nearing end of its tenure, the independent counsel’s team decided not to make an appeal against the court decision, its spokesperson told reporters.

The key challenge, above all, is to summon the suspended president for a face-to-face questioning.

“We are still in talks (with Park’s legal team) over how to proceed with the questioning,” Lee said, implying that nothing has been decided yet on the schedule.

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)