DP forwards three special counsel bills for vote, including Yoon treason probe

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DP forwards three special counsel bills for vote, including Yoon treason probe

Published: 09 Dec. 2024, 16:01 Updated: 09 Dec. 2024, 19:48

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

The parliamentary Legislation and Judiciary Committee meets at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Monday without most members from the conservative People Power Party. [YONHAP]

Parliamentary pressure against President Yoon Suk Yeol mounted on Monday as the liberal Democratic Party (DP) forwarded three special counsel probe bills to the National Assembly for voting later this week.

One bill, which the DP plans to present to a plenary session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, would mandate the appointment of a permanent independent counsel to investigate whether President Yoon Suk Yeol committed treason by declaring martial law last week.

The bill was approved by the DP-controlled Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Monday over the objections of two People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers present at the meeting. Most of the party's lawmakers on the committee boycotted the meeting.

DP Rep. Kim Seung-won, who chairs the subcommittee that forwarded the bill to the National Assembly floor, told reporters after the meeting that the probe will be “handled with as much neutrality and fairness as possible.”

Unlike a regular special counsel bill, a permanent independent counsel bill cannot be vetoed by the president. Given the DP’s 170-seat majority in the National Assembly, the bill will likely pass.

According to Kim, the permanent independent counsel will also be tasked with investigating treason charges against Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyung, chief of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, who is one of the three military officials who have been suspended from duty over their alleged involvement in the president’s short-lived imposition of martial law.

The DP has rejected PPP leader Han Dong-hoon’s earlier suggestion that the prime minister could act as a caretaker while Yoon prepares to leave office early.

On Sunday, DP Rep. Kim Min-seok warned the PPP leader and the prime minister that their attempts to maintain control over state affairs would be tantamount to “another act of insurrection.”

Democratic Party Rep. Kim Seung-won and Rep. Kim Yong-min present two special counsel probe bills to investigate President Yoon Suk Yeol for treason charges and first lady Kim Keon Hee at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Monday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The DP also pushed two bills through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee the same day to establish regular special counsel probes into treason charges against Yoon and various allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee.

Rep. Kim Yong-min, the party’s deputy floor leader for policy, said one of the special counsel probes will look into allegations that the president instigated an “insurrection” on Dec. 3 with his short-lived emergency martial law decree.

The bill stipulates that the head of the National Court Administration, the president of the Korean Bar Association and the head of the Korea Law Professors Association should nominate three candidates for the post of special counsel, with the president making the final choice.

Kim noted that the bill excludes the National Assembly from having a say in the selection process to avoid accusations of bias against the special counsel.

The other special counsel probe bill, which targets first lady Kim Keon Hee, is the fourth attempt by the DP to establish an investigation into allegations that she was involved in a stock price manipulation scheme and interfered in the PPP’s candidate nomination process through a self-proclaimed power broker.

The DP said it plans to hold a National Assembly vote on both regular special counsel bills during a plenary session on Thursday.

BY MICHAEL LEE, LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]