The Korean Bar Association on Sunday recommended four prosecutor-turned-lawyers for the position of independent counsel to lead an investigation into allegations that a power blogger tied to ruling party officials manipulated Internet comments for political purposes.

Under the law authorizing a special investigation, the bar association is required to put forward four special prosecutor candidates before opposition parties select two of them as final candidates. President Moon Jae-in will then appoint one of them as special prosecutor.

 

All four candidates -- Kim Bong-sug, Oh Kwang-soo, Im Jeong-hyuk and Huh Ik-Bum -- served in senior positions in the prosecution before moving to private law firms. The bar association said all of them are equipped with investigative capabilities, leadership, integrity and neutrality.

The association plans to formally notify opposition parties of the list soon.

The scandal centers on suspicions that the power blogger, known by the nickname Druking, and his team manipulated comments on Internet news stories in an effort to sway public opinion on hot-button political issues.

Druking was found to have ties to officials in the ruling party and the presidential office. He has 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 flatly denied the allegations, dismissing them as "fiction." (Yonhap)