Opposition parties jointly sought an independent counsel and a parliamentary inspection into favoritism allegations surrounding the ruling Democratic Party’s(DP) leading presidential contender, Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung.

On Thursday, the main opposition People Power Party(PPP) and minor People's Party submitted a special prosecution bill to the National Assembly, motioned by all 107  combined representatives of the two parties. They also called for a parliamentary investigation.

The special prosecution bill aims to investigate allegations of favoritism, leaked classified information, power abuse and embezzlement surrounding the Daejang-dong development project pursued by Seongnam City when Lee was mayor in 2015.

The ruling party, meanwhile, said it is not considering responding to the opposition's calls, saying the prosecution has already launched an investigation and the allegations can also be addressed by parliamentary committees.

Lee's camp accused the opposition parties of a political offensive and threatened to seek exemplary damages for false reporting against local daily Chosun Ilbo, which first reported on these allegations.