Opposition parties select two special prosecutor candidates

SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- Opposition parties on Monday selected two candidates for the special counsel to lead a probe into allegations that a blogger tied to ruling party officials rigged online comments for political purposes.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and two other minor parties picked Im Jeong-hyuk and Huh Ik-Bum among four prosecutor-turned-lawyers recommended by the Korean Bar Association in accordance with the special counsel law, officials said.

President Moon Jae-in is supposed to appoint one of the two candidates as soon as this week.

"The two candidates were picked after taking into account their investigative capabilities and competence that they had shown when they were prosecutors," Kim Sung-tae, the floor leader of the LKP, told a press briefing.

"The parties reached an agreement on the candidates to start the independent investigation as soon as possible amid public concerns about a sloppy investigation."

The rival parties passed a bill aimed at appointing a special prosecutor last month to look into the scandal involving a former ruling party lawmaker and an official at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

The scandal centered on allegations that the power blogger, known by the nickname Druking, and his team manipulated Internet comments on news stories in a bid to affect public opinions on hot-button political issues.

The blogger claimed that former ruling party lawmaker Kim Kyoung-soo, a key aide to Moon, tacitly agreed to his campaign for the online opinion rigging. Kim has vehemently denied the suspicions.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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