(LEAD) Opposition demands special prosecution probe on deadly fire

SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- Opposition party lawmakers on Friday called for the launch of a special prosecution team to further investigate a deadly fire that took six lives during a police raid on protesters.

On Jan. 19, a police swat team raided a dilapidated four-story building in
Seoul's central Yongsan Ward to evict dozens of squatters opposing redevelopment
of the area. Six people, including a police officer, were killed in the blaze
that occurred during the pre-dawn raid.
Prosecutors concluded their investigation earlier this week, saying the fire was
caused by the protesters' mishandling of paint thinners used in makeshift bombs.
The police were cleared of any wrongdoing.
The national police chief-nominee, Kim Seok-ki, resigned in the face of growing
public anger over the incident.
"A special prosecution team is needed, as it appears that prosecutors'
investigation of the police was conducted loosely in order to raise the
authoritative power (of the police)," Rep. Park Sang-chun of the main opposition
Democratic Party (DP) said during a government interpellation at the National
Assembly.
Opposition lawmaker Rep. Choi Jae-sung grilled Prime Minister Han Seung-soo on
whether the government would employ the same tactics as those used in the raid if
a similar incident reoccurs.
"Do you think that future raids should be conducted in the same way in the name
of maintaining law and order?" he asked.
The case took an unexpected twist earlier this week when an opposition party
legislator, Rep. Kim Yoo-jung, accused the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae of
instructing police to use the recent arrest of a serial killer to divert public
interest away from the tragic incident.
The presidential office earlier denied the allegation, but Friday admitted that a
working-level staff member had told a public relations official at the National
Police Agency to "actively" publicize the arrest and investigation of the
suspected killer.
"We have learned it was suggested to a police official by a staff member at the
office of special adviser to the president for national integration, who conveyed
the message as a personal opinion in an e-mail," a Cheong Wa Dae official told a
press briefing.
"We say this once again, there has not been an official instruction or document
sent down to the police (by Cheong Wa Dae) as Rep. Kim Yoo-jung of the Democratic
Party has accused," the official added, asking not to be identified.
The staff member has been "verbally warned," the official said, but calls are
growing for a probe into the incident and for his dismissal.
Ruling party lawmakers took note of the tragic deaths, but defended the decision
by police to raid the building and blamed the previous liberal administration's
relatively soft attitude for encouraging protesters.
"The bad habits (among protesters) formed by the past governments' consistently
soft stance on violent demonstrations was the decisive factor in the crisis,"
Rep. Chang Kwag-keun of the Grand National Party said.
Rep. Chun Yu-ok echoed that view, saying the past governments under Kim Dae-jung
and Roh Moo-hyun were accountable in creating the tarnished image of the police
today.
"Swift measures should come out to uplift the honor of the police, which has
fallen (due to the fatal tragedy)," Chun said.
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