Seoul, Nov. 4 - Independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo, who withdrew his presidential candidacy before the December 19 election, proposed to launch a special investigation into an online campaign scandal in regard to last year’s election.
“Currently, the investigations are being separately conducted by state and military prosecutors but there are not many people who trust such investigation results,” Ahn said in a press briefing held at the National Assembly. “The Park Geun-hye administration recently ordered a thorough investigation and strict censure in connection with the involved to clear the allegations, but it’s too late now and it does not fit the situation.”
“I doubt whether it is an attempt to reduce the investigation results since Yoon was removed from his investigation team,” Ahn continued. “Under these circumstances, we need to let the special investigation take care of these matters and politicians need to focus on national issues and people’s lives.”
Yoon Seok-ryeol, a senior prosecutor who had recently led the investigation of the scandal, was removed from the investigation after his team detained three NIS agents. Yoon said his team had collected evidence of the NIS’s online campaign such as tweeted and retweeted 55,700 messages by NIS that praised Ms. Park or disparaged her opposition candidate Mr. Moon before the December election.
Ahn’s latest action is gathering supporters to establish a new political party while he has political power to challenge the main opposition party by swaying over the liberal voting bloc.
