 ▲ 윤석열 정부 용산 대통령실 청사 ©뉴시스 |
대통령실이 8일 더불어민주당이 김건희 여사 의혹 수사를 위해 여야 합의한 규칙까지 바꿔가며 상설특검을 추진키로 하자 "야당 직속 또 하나의 검찰을 만들겠다는 것"이라고 밝혔다.
대통령실 관계자는 이날 "지난 2014년 민주당이 주도해 여야 합의로 제정한 현행 규칙을 갑자기 바꾸겠다는 건 정치적 속셈을 드러내는 것에 불과하다"며 이같이 전했다.
그러면서 "민생에 집중해야 할 22대 첫 국정감사 기간 당 대표 방탄을 위해 국회 규칙 개정 꼼수까지 동원해 국회를 정쟁의 장으로 만드는 야당 행태에 개탄을 금할 수 없다"고 비판했다.
앞서 이날 오전 더불어민주당은 김 여사 의혹을 다룰 '상설특검 특별검사수사요구안'을 국회에 제출한 가운데 기존 특검과 함께 상설특검도 함께 추진하겠다는 것. 특검법을 국회에서 강행 처리하더라도 대통령 재의요구권(거부권) 행사에 번번이 무산되는 상황을 피해 일방적으로 하겠다는 속셈으로 보인다.
상설특검법은 별도 특검법과 달리 곧장 특검을 가동할 수 있는 법으로 지난 2024년 여야 합의로 제정된 가운데 개별 특검법 대비 특검 활동 기간·규모는 작으나 이미 제정된 '상설특검법' 기반으로 대통령 거부권 대상이 아니기 때문이다.
이에 더해 전날 또 더불어민주당은 상설 특검 후보자 추천위원회 구성 시 여당은 특검 후보자를 추천할 수 없도록 하는 내용의 규칙 개정안도 발의한 가운데 상설특검 도입 시 7명의 특검 후보자 추천위원회를 구성할 수 있다.
현행 규칙엔 법무차관·법원행정처 차장·대한변호사협회 회장 등 당연직 3명과 교섭단체인 국민의힘·민주당이 각각 2명씩 추천케 돼 있고 7명 중 과반을 정부·여당이 추천할 수 있는데 이를 아예 막고 독자적으로 구성해 일방 통행하겠다는 의중을 드러낸 셈이다.
*아래는 위 기사를 '구글 번역'으로 번역한 영문 기사의 [전문]입니다. '구글번역'은 이해도 높이기를 위해 노력하고 있습니다. 영문 번역에 오류가 있을 수 있음을 전제로 합니다.<*The following is [the full text] of the English article translated by 'Google Translate'. 'Google Translate' is working hard to improve understanding. It is assumed that there may be errors in the English translation.
Office of the President: "The Democratic Party of Korea's Standing Special Prosecutor Revision Bill Is About Creating a Prosecutor's Office Directly Under the Opposition Party"
The ruling party criticized the opposition party for blocking the recommendation of special prosecutor candidates and saying, "We deplore the opposition party's behavior of turning the National Assembly into a political arena by even resorting to the trick of revising the National Assembly rules to bulletproof the party leader in the first state audit of the 22nd National Assembly, which should be focusing on the people's livelihood."
-kihong Kim reporter
The Office of the President stated on the 8th that the Democratic Party of Korea decided to push for a permanent special investigation by changing the rules agreed upon by the ruling and opposition parties in order to investigate the suspicions surrounding Ms. Kim Gun-hee, “This is creating another prosecution directly under the opposition party.”
An official from the Office of the President stated on the same day, “Suddenly changing the current rules that the Democratic Party led and enacted through a bipartisan agreement in 2014 is nothing more than revealing political intentions.”
He also criticized, “We cannot help but deplore the opposition party’s behavior of turning the National Assembly into a political arena by using tricks such as revising the National Assembly rules to bulletproof the party leader during the first state audit of the 22nd National Assembly, which should be focusing on the people’s livelihood.”
Earlier that morning, the Democratic Party of Korea submitted a ‘Permanent Special Prosecution Special Prosecutor Investigation Request’ to the National Assembly to deal with the suspicions surrounding Ms. Kim, and announced that they would push for a permanent special investigation along with the existing special investigation. Even if the special prosecutor's law is forced through the National Assembly, it seems that the intention is to unilaterally do so in order to avoid the situation where the president's right to request reconsideration (veto) is repeatedly rejected.
Unlike the separate special prosecutor's law, the permanent special prosecutor's law is a law that can immediately start a special prosecutor's office. Although the period and scale of special prosecutor activities are smaller than those of the individual special prosecutor's law, it is not subject to the president's veto based on the already enacted 'permanent special prosecutor's law.
In addition, the previous day, the Democratic Party of Korea also proposed a rule revision bill that prohibits the ruling party from recommending special prosecutor candidates when forming the permanent special prosecutor's candidate recommendation committee. In this case, a 7-member special prosecutor candidate recommendation committee can be formed when the permanent special prosecutor's office is introduced.
The current rules stipulate that the three ex officio members, including the Vice Minister of Justice, the Vice Minister of the Court Administration, and the President of the Korean Bar Association, and the negotiating groups, the People Power Party and the Democratic Party, must each recommend two members. The government and the ruling party can recommend a majority of the seven members, but they appear intent on blocking this altogether and forming the members independently to push things through unilaterally.
