Cho Kuk: "High Possibility of Guilty Verdict in Appeals Trial to Resume After President Lee's Term"

Cho Kuk, head of the Innovation Policy Institute for the Rebuilding Korea Party, said today (the 1st) regarding the Democratic Party of Korea's so-called manipulated indictment special counsel bill that "to dismiss an indictment on the grounds of a 'manipulated indictment,' the 'manipulated indictment' must first be confirmed."

Writing on Facebook today, Cho stated, "If we push for the dismissal of the indictment against President Lee Jae-myung while ignoring this, it will inevitably lead to political and legal setbacks."

Regarding the National Assembly's parliamentary inspection into the manipulated indictment led by the Democratic Party, he pointed out, "There were many achievements. However, this alone is not enough," adding, "We must secure evidence of 'manipulation' through inspections by the Ministry of Justice or the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, or through investigations by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials."

Mentioning the fact-finding investigation by the Ministry of Justice's Future Committee for Respecting Human Rights in Prosecution regarding the Daejang-dong and North Korea remittance cases, he noted, "We must also check these results," and added, "Once Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won takes office, he must swiftly yield tangible results in this regard."

Regarding President Lee's Public Official Election Act violation charges and other cases, Cho pointed out, "Under the law, an indictment can be cancelled before the sentencing of the first-instance trial," and warned, "If the 'manipulated indictment special counsel bill' includes a provision allowing the dismissal of an indictment for cases where trials were suspended while pending in the second instance during President Lee's trial, problems will immediately arise."

He further argued, "The Democratic Party welcomed Yoon Seok-youl's guilty ruling for the crime of publishing false information under the Public Official Election Act," and claimed, "Unless the Supreme Court's legal doctrine is overturned again, the possibility of a guilty verdict being handed down in the second-instance trial, which will resume after President Lee's term, is very high."

In addition, Cho said, "The abuse of power by Yoon Seok-youl's prosecution was not limited to President Lee, as numerous officials from the Moon Jae-in administration have been subjected to targeted investigations and indictments, only to be acquitted." He added, "Yet, the Democratic Party did not demand the dismissal of indictments when these cases were in the first instance."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.