Key facts
- The bill calls for an independent counsel to investigate 12 cases of alleged fabricated indictments.
- Six of the 12 cases relate to President Lee Jae Myung, stemming from his time as Seongnam mayor and Gyeonggi governor.
- The final version removed a clause that would have allowed the special prosecutor to cancel indictments.
- People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said the bill would let the president's crimes disappear.
- Trials involving Lee have been suspended under Article 84 of the Constitution since he took office in June last year.
South Korea's National Assembly passed a bill on November 6, 2026, calling for a special counsel probe into allegations that the prosecution under former President Yoon Suk Yeol fabricated evidence or induced false testimonies to build cases against then opposition leader Lee Jae Myung and others. The bill passed a plenary session in a 167-1 vote after a filibuster by the main opposition People Power Party ended, with PPP lawmakers boycotting the vote.
The bill, first introduced by the ruling Democratic Party in April, tasks an independent counsel with investigating the prosecution's indictments in 12 cases. Six of them relate to President Lee, with charges stemming from his time as mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi Province, when he was allegedly involved in corrupt development schemes, illegal remittances to North Korea, and the misuse of a government charge card.
The trials involving Lee have been suspended since he took office in June last year under Article 84 of the Constitution, which exempts a sitting president from criminal prosecution except in cases of insurrection or treason. The DP originally sought to include a clause allowing the special prosecutor to cancel indictments but removed it from the final version amid backlash from within and outside the party. Rep. Han Byung-do, the DP's floor leader, said at a party supreme council meeting that the latest version no longer includes clauses the PPP had repeatedly opposed.
The PPP has fiercely opposed the bill, accusing it of being aimed at canceling all indictments against Lee. Opposition lawmakers protested outside the National Assembly before the vote and plan to stage an outdoor rally in central Seoul on Saturday. "This is a bill that would allow one's crimes to disappear as long as they are the president," PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok said during the rally. "The trials must resume before Lee Jae Myung can wipe away all of his own crimes."