Special counsel to announce final result on March 3

The independent counsel investigating the corruption scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye on Friday reaffirmed its stance on suspending the indictment of the president, hinting at its determination to make sure the investigation into Park continues under state prosecutors.

The counsel team also said the final investigation result will be announced on March 3 at the earliest, if its deadline is not extended. The team has requested a one-month extension for its investigation and is awaiting approval from acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. 

With days to go until the Tuesday deadline of the probe, the counsel team said on Thursday that it will impose a suspension of indictment for President Park for a definite period, leaving room for state prosecutors to press charges against her.

“The suspension of the indictment means that the investigation is halted when it is not possible to carry on with the probe. It has no legal problem at all,” said Lee Kyu-chul, the spokesperson for the counsel team, targeting the presidential office that had earlier protested the decision. 

Once the team is dissolved, the remaining cases will be handed over to state prosecutors within three days. The state prosecutors originally initiated the investigation into the scandal and led it until the independent counsel was appointed.

President Park is now immune from criminal liability as a sitting president. The Constitutional Court is likely to make a ruling in early March on whether to unseat or reinstate Park, who was impeached over a corruption scandal by the National Assembly in December.

The team also on Friday summoned presidential aide Lee Young-seon under an arrest warrant to grill him over Park’s use of cellphones registered under borrowed names  and medical beauty treatments she may have received from unauthorized doctors.

Lee, the presidential office’s administrative staff member in charge of Park’s security, is suspected of helping uncertified medical practitioners get in and out of the presidential office unlawfully bypassing official safety checks.

Among them is thought to be Kim Young-jae, a general practitioner who runs an anti-aging clinic in southern Seoul. The special prosecutor’s team earlier secured testimony that the president secretly received fillers and Botox injections from him.

The counsel team is also questioning him over allegations that Park and her inner circle used phones under borrowed names. The team earlier revealed that Park and Choi talked over the burner phones nearly 130 times, even when Choi was on the run in Germany in the face of the burgeoning scandal.

The special counsel, who can hold Lee for questioning for 48 hours under a court-issued warrant, should decide whether to seek another arrest warrant to physically detain him for another 20 days.

The team has investigated a wide range of allegations that President Park abused her presidential powers to extort donations from local businesses, blacklist liberal figures and let her civilian friend Choi meddle in state affairs, among others.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)