Parliamentary committee passes special counsel bill on first lady

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Parliamentary committee passes special counsel bill on first lady

Published: 05 Nov. 2024, 17:44

A document is placed on a table at a meeting of the subcommittee of the National Assembly's legislation and judiciary committee in western Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

A parliamentary judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday passed a bill mandating a special counsel probe into allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee.

The subcommittee of the National Assembly's legislation and judiciary committee passed the bill with all five lawmakers of the liberal Democratic Party voting in favor despite opposition from three ruling party lawmakers.

If passed at the upcoming plenary session of the National Assembly next Thursday, it would be the third such bill after a similar bill was vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol and scrapped in a revote last month.

The latest bill expands the scope of the proposed special counsel investigation to include recent allegations that the first lady sought the help of Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed political broker, to conduct public opinion surveys favoring Yoon ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

Other added items for the proposed investigation include allegations that the first lady interfered in candidate nominations for last April's general elections as well as the 2022 local elections and by-elections.

As with the scrapped bills, the new bill also calls for an investigation into the first lady's alleged involvement in a stock manipulation scheme and her acceptance of a luxury bag.

Yonhap