Court ruling undercuts special counsel push

Former Gyeonggi Province Vice Gov. Lee Hwa-young, who was indicted on charges including perjury before the National Assembly over his allegations of a so-called salmon and soju party inside a prosecutors' office, has been sentenced to four months in prison. The court concluded that the alleged gathering never took place.

The Suwon District Court found that testimony from those present at the prosecutors' office was consistent, while Lee's statements lacked credibility because they were inconsistent. A majority of the seven jurors who participated in the 10-day citizen jury trial, the longest of its kind, also voted to convict. Although the ruling is only the first instance, it represents a serious setback for the Democratic Party (DP), which relied heavily on the claims of a criminal defendant in challenging the integrity of South Korea's criminal justice system.

The DP had treated Lee's allegations as established fact and mounted an aggressive campaign around them. Ruling party lawmakers even held a special parliamentary committee hearing and staged an experiment measuring how long it would take to buy soju at a nearby convenience store and carry it to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in an effort to support the claim. The party also introduced legislation establishing a special counsel to investigate what it described as fabricated prosecutions, including cases involving President Lee Jae Myung.

The alleged drinking party became a central example used to argue that prosecutors had coerced or induced false testimony. The proposed legislation asserted that the Ssangbangwool remittance case involving North Korea included improper meetings, witness coordination and investigative favors that undermined fairness, while suggesting that key testimony had been obtained through coercion or pressure. The court's ruling has now undermined one of the principal foundations of that argument.

Given the court's conclusion that the allegation was false, efforts to pursue a special counsel to cancel indictments or impeach prosecutors involved in the investigation should be abandoned. The political responsibility of lawmakers who promoted the allegation through parliamentary investigations and special counsel legislation cannot be dismissed lightly.

Some DP lawmakers nevertheless said after the ruling that the special counsel proposal should proceed, arguing that the court should have acquitted Lee rather than treating the jury's majority verdict as persuasive.

While the appellate process remains pending, respecting the court's ruling and refraining from politicizing the judiciary would better reflect a commitment to the rule of law. Pressing ahead with a "self-exoneration" special counsel despite the court's findings risks triggering a significant political backlash.