Chairman Woo Won-sik pressures Choi Sang-mok for a permanent special prosecutor... Files a jurisdictional dispute petition with the Constitutional Court

Speaker of the National Assembly Woo Won-sik filed a constitutional dispute with the Constitutional Court on the 9th regarding Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok's failure to recommend candidates for the permanent special prosecutor for the insurrection case.

Speaker Woo decided to submit a petition for a constitutional dispute to the Constitutional Court concerning Acting Prime Minister Choi's failure to request the recommendation of two candidates related to the "Special Prosecutor Investigation Request for Fact-Finding of the Insurrection Act through the Unconstitutional Emergency Martial Law Proclamation," which was approved at the National Assembly plenary session on the 10th of last month.

Woo Won-sik, Speaker of the National Assembly (right), and Choi Sang-mok, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, are shaking hands at the National Assembly on the 30th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

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According to the Permanent Special Prosecutor Act, when the National Assembly resolves to investigate through a special prosecutor, the President must promptly request the Special Prosecutor Candidate Recommendation Committee to recommend two special prosecutor candidates. After the committee recommends two candidates in writing, the President must appoint one candidate within three days from the date of recommendation.

However, following Acting Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Acting Prime Minister Choi has also failed to recommend special prosecutors, preventing the permanent special prosecutor from being activated. Additionally, the general special prosecutor law related to the insurrection, passed by the National Assembly, was rejected after a re-deliberation in the plenary session following Acting Prime Minister Choi's exercise of the right to request reconsideration (veto).

A National Assembly official stated, "Speaker Woo plans to confirm the unconstitutionality of the failure to request the recommendation of special prosecutor candidates through the constitutional dispute petition and will submit a provisional injunction petition with a primary claim that 'the respondent is deemed to have requested the recommendation of special prosecutor candidates' and a secondary claim that 'the respondent must immediately request the recommendation of special prosecutor candidates.'"

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