Prosecutors to resume Park investigation

State prosecutors are expected to launch an investigation of former President Park Geun-hye, as the court’s decision Friday to expel her from office effectively cleared a key legal hurdle that had so far hindered their efforts.

As a sitting president, Park formerly had immunity to being prosecuted.

A special investigation unit, formed within the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, is currently reviewing some 100,000 pages of investigation records handed over to it by independent counsel Park Young-soo, who led the probe into Park’s corruption scandal for 70 days until Feb. 28. 

The main task of the state prosecutors is to question the former president in person, search her offices or residence for evidence, if needed, and possibly indict her -- none of which was possible while Park was president, although she was named a criminal suspect by both state prosecutors and the special counsel.

Now as a civilian, Park has no means to evade the investigation. Prosecutors can summon her for questioning and seek to arrest her if she does not show up. They can also ban Park from leaving the country.

Moon Jae-in, a leading presidential candidate from the liberal opposition Democratic Party of Korea, on Sunday said the prosecution has no reason to delay its investigation into Park as she is now deprived of presidential immunity.

“Some say the investigation should be delayed until after the presidential election. But given that ex-President Park is not a candidate, there is no reason to do so,” Moon said.

“She should make sure not to destroy or bring presidential archives from Cheong Wa Dae (with her, when she leaves),” Moon said.

The disgraced leader left the presidential residence and relocated to her private home in Seoul on Sunday evening.

Prosecutors may seek to raid Cheong Wa Dae, as she has moved out, some local media outlets speculated. Previous attempts to search the presidential compound had failed due to the objection of Park’s office, citing national security.

“The presidential office is categorized as a national security facility, which handles military and state secrets, so we cannot accept any raid,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said earlier this month, denying access to the special counsel’s team that was seeking to enter the compound.

The counsel, at that time, hoped to find evidence on Park’s “missing seven hours” on the day of the Sewol ferry sinking in 2014, which left more than 300 dead or missing, and other remaining cases involving former Senior Presidential Secretary Woo Byung-woo and major conglomerates.

But hurdles remain as Cheong Wa Dae officials can reject search requests based on the Criminal Procedure Act. Article 110-111 states that “seizure and search shall not be conducted at a place in respect of which military information shall be kept confidential, unless approval from the person in charge is obtained.”

Woo, another key person in the scandal, allegedly abetted Park’s confidante Choi Soon-sil’s abuse of power while serving as a senior presidential secretary for civil affairs from 2015 to 2016.

The court rejected last month the investigator’s proposal to issue an arrest warrant for Woo on grounds of insufficient evidence.

“(We) could have figured out how Woo abused his power if we had been able to seize and search (key offices of the Blue House),” independent counsel Park Young-soo had said while closing down the special investigation.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)