2024-07-09 19:23:34
On the morning of the 9th, the government held a State Council meeting and passed a motion to request President Yoon Seok-yeol to exercise his right to request reconsideration (veto) of the Act on the Appointment of a Special Prosecutor to Investigate the Truth about Obstruction of Investigation of the Deceased Marines and Cover-up of the Case (the Act on the Special Prosecutor for Private Chae). If President Yoon approves, the Special Prosecutor Act will return to the National Assembly for reconsideration.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said in his opening remarks, “The opposition party forced through the Special Prosecutor’s Act on Private First Class Chae (at the 22nd National Assembly on the 4th),” and “The government has requested a reconsideration of the Special Prosecutor’s Act on Martyred Marines that was passed in the 21st National Assembly. The main reason was that the special prosecution, which should have been introduced as a supplementary and exceptional measure with the premise of agreement between the ruling and opposition parties or acceptance by the government, was pushed through by the opposition party alone, and that its content does not comply with the principle of separation of powers and it would be difficult to secure political neutrality. The bill in question was rejected and scrapped as a result of the National Assembly’s reconsideration. That was just 37 days ago.”
Prime Minister Han continued, “If the National Assembly re-promotes the bill, it will need to go through a process of revising and supplementing the problematic matters through consultations between the ruling and opposition parties. I believe that doing so is in line with the principle of separation of powers under the Constitution and the spirit of parliamentarism. However, the opposition party has unilaterally pushed through a bill that has further exacerbated the unconstitutionality.” He added, “In addition to the existing problems, the bill includes provisions that ‘deem appointments if appointments are not made within the deadline’ and even allow the ‘authority to cancel indictments for cases under trial by special prosecutors,’ which undermine the foundation of the criminal law system. The scope and period of the special prosecutor’s investigation have also been excessively expanded.”
Prime Minister Han said, “The government will not be negligent in finding out the truth about the Chae Sang-byeong case. However, I do not think that a special prosecutor’s law that adds unconstitutionality to unconstitutionality can be the solution.” He added, “I hope that the spirit of dialogue and agreement between the ruling and opposition parties will be restored as soon as possible, and that the vicious cycle of the giant opposition party monopolizing legislation and the government exercising its right to demand reconsideration will end.”
The opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Korea, previously passed the Special Prosecutor Act on Private First Class Chae at the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 4th. The passage of the Special Prosecutor Act came 37 days after it was abolished on May 28 after a re-vote in the 21st National Assembly due to President Yoon’s veto. The Special Prosecutor Act passed this time has been strengthened compared to the previous one, as it includes ‘suspicions about President Yoon’s appointment of former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop and his departure from the country’ as its subject of investigation.
The special prosecutor’s bill was transferred to the government on the 5th. Since the veto can be exercised within 15 days after the bill is transferred to the government, President Yoon must decide whether to exercise it by the 20th of this month.
If President Yoon exercises his veto, the special prosecutor bill will go through the National Assembly’s re-decision process. The requirements for passage in the plenary session are the attendance of a majority of the 300 members and the approval of more than two-thirds (200) of the members present. If all 300 members are present and 192 opposition parties and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party approve, the veto will be nullified if an additional 7 members within the ruling party leave. The re-vote will be conducted in a closed-door, anonymous vote.
Reporter Jeong Bong-oh, Donga.com [email protected]
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2024-07-09 19:23:34