The opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Korea, passed the ‘Kim Gun-hee Special Prosecutor Act’ unilaterally at the plenary session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly on the 11th. It has been about 8 months since President Yoon Seok-yeol exercised his right to request reconsideration (veto) in the 21st National Assembly. The fourth ‘Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Act’ jointly proposed by the five opposition parties and the amendment to the bill mandating financial support for local currency by the state and local governments, which is the Democratic Party’s party line bill, also passed the plenary session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee under the leadership of the opposition parties. The People Power Party abstained from voting, saying, “If the Special Prosecutor Act is unilaterally passed, the president will have no choice but to exercise his veto.”
The Democratic Party had originally planned to process three bills at the plenary session on the 12th, but the brakes were applied when Woo Won-shik, the Speaker of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party, said, “Let’s work together to resolve the biggest issue, the medical crisis,” and postponed the processing of the controversial bills to the 19th, after the Chuseok holiday.
The Kim Kun-hee Special Prosecutor Act, which passed the subcommittee of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee led by the Democratic Party on the 9th, included eight investigation targets, including stock price manipulation, suspicions of Dior bag bribery, suspicions of external pressure on the investigation of the National Human Rights Commission, lobbying to save Lim Sung-geun and others, and suspicions of intervention in the nomination process for the 22nd general election. It stipulated that the Democratic Party and non-negotiating groups would each recommend one special prosecutor candidate, and the president would appoint the final one. The Private First Class Special Prosecutor Act, which included the “third-party special prosecutor recommendation” proposed by People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, stipulates that if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court recommends four special prosecutor candidates, the Democratic Party and non-negotiating groups would narrow it down to two, and the president would appoint one. It also granted the opposition party the “right to request re-recommendation.”
The People Power Party took issue with the fact that the opposition party can select the special prosecutors for both special prosecutor laws, and applied for the formation of a bill coordination committee that can deliberate for up to 90 days. However, the opposition party used its majority to forcibly close the bill coordination committee after only 30 minutes, and Democratic Party member Jeong Cheong-rae, the chairman of the Legislative and Judiciary Committee, forced a vote on the two special prosecutor laws and the local currency law about an hour after the meeting resumed. When Chairman Jeong said to Justice Minister Park Sung-jae and others who opposed the special prosecutor laws that day, “There are also civil servants who went to jail for violating their duty of political neutrality,” People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Gyu-taek responded by asking, “Are you in your right mind?” and there was a verbal clash between the ruling and opposition parties.
The Democratic Party had planned to process the three bills by putting them on the agenda for the plenary session on the 12th, the last day of the Q&A session. However, Speaker Woo held a press conference that day and said, “Now that there is a possibility of dialogue between the ruling and opposition parties, the opposition party should be flexible in the timing of processing the bills so that the atmosphere of cooperation is not cut off. This is the way to meet the public’s expectations,” and “Please negotiate so that the bills submitted to the plenary session can be processed on the 19th.” In response, opposition lawmakers on the Legislative and Judiciary Committee objected, saying, “If the bills are killed due to the opposition of the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Speaker will be solely responsible for that.” People Power Party floor leader Choo Kyung-ho said, “We had already agreed on the schedule for the plenary session on the 26th, but it is regrettable that they suddenly added the 19th to the schedule and called for negotiations.”
Reporter Ahn Gyu-young [email protected]
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2024-09-12 09:23:21