The Democratic Party's closed-door general meeting of lawmakers held before the plenary session. Yonhap News

The Democratic Party, which had been negative about a special prosecutor investigation into allegations of the Unification Church's financial support for politicians, suddenly accepted the opposition's demand for a special prosecutor on the 22nd.

Although the initial principled stance was to observe the police investigation, it is speculated that one of the factors for changing its position was the concern that maintaining opposition to the special prosecutor could lead to public backlash, given that public opinion polls showed a majority in favor of a Unification Church special prosecutor.

At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Chairperson Chung Chin-suck said, "We had stated that a comprehensive special prosecutor, intended to investigate the shortcomings of the three special prosecutors, would make a Unification Church special prosecutor impossible," but added, "However, I don't think there's anything we can't accept (the opposition's demand)."

Chung emphasized, "I think it would be good to reveal the truth clearly, including all those involved from the People Power Party," and added, "The public sentiment is also like that."

This is a change from the position taken at a closed-door Supreme Council meeting on the 15th, where he dismissed the demand, saying, "The People Power Party's demand for a Unification Church special prosecutor is absolutely unacceptable and not worth considering."

Floor Leader Kim Byung-ki also proposed, "I suggest a special prosecutor that includes all politicians from both ruling and opposition parties, without exception," and stated, "I propose meeting with People Power Party Floor Leader Song Eon-seok as soon as possible to discuss the Unification Church special prosecutor."

This shift in position is closely linked to recent public opinion polls showing that a majority of the party's supporters favor a Unification Church special prosecutor.

According to a survey conducted by Korea Gallup from the 16th to the 18th among 1,001 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, asking whether a special prosecutor should be introduced regarding allegations of politicians receiving money from the Unification Church, 62% responded that it 'should be introduced'.

Among Democratic Party supporters, 67% said a special prosecutor should be introduced, a higher proportion than among People Power Party supporters (60%).

It appears that the leadership's judgment is that there is no clear justification to oppose the special prosecutor, given that even their supporters are progressive about introducing one.

Senior Spokesperson Park Soo-hyun met with reporters at the National Assembly and explained, "The Unification Church special prosecutor strongly reflects public sentiment," and added, "In accordance with the President's remarks that the truth must be thoroughly revealed regardless of position, we have continuously shared and coordinated with the Presidential Office."

Furthermore, the fact that the People Power Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party have agreed to propose a special prosecutor bill that targets all ruling and opposition politicians and involves a third party recommending the special prosecutor, thereby increasing pressure on the ruling party, is also seen as a burden.

Within the party, there were concerns that if they pursued a comprehensive special prosecutor for 'liquidation of past injustices' while rejecting a Unification Church special prosecutor, it would only fuel the opposition's offensive of hypocrisy ("Nae Ro Nam Bul").

In particular, there was a view that if the tug-of-war between the ruling and opposition parties over the introduction of a Unification Church special prosecutor continued, it would do more harm than good to the ruling party's strategy of keeping public attention focused on the liquidation of past injustices, and consequently, even the momentum for reform would be negatively affected.

While it is anticipated that the ruling and opposition parties will begin consultations soon after the Democratic Party accepts the special prosecutor demand and the opposition welcomes it, difficulties are expected before an agreement is reached.

Specifically, the candidate recommendation rights for the special prosecutor, the investigation period, and the investigation targets could become points of contention.

The People Power Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party are advocating for a special prosecutor recommendation method where two individuals are recommended by the Supreme Court and the Court Administration Office, and the President appoints one of them.

When asked about conditions for the negotiation with the opposition, Senior Spokesperson Park stated, "It seems like a natural condition to comprehensively include People Power Party figures," and explained, "We could use the processing of livelihood-related bills as a bargaining chip, but this was a sudden acceptance, and we did not consider using it as a card beforehand."

The public opinion poll cited in the article was conducted via telephone interviews with randomly selected wireless phone virtual numbers. The margin of error was ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, the contact rate was 49.8%, and the response rate was 10.8%. For more details, please refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.