Turned Away by Same Party Over 'Accounting Fraud Allegations' Jeong Jeong-sun... Arrest Consent Passed

-Approved in the plenary session with 167 votes in favor and 12 against
-Jeong Jeong-sun: "I will humbly accept and abide by the results"

Jeong Jeong-sun, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea suspected of accounting fraud during the last general election, is leaving the National Assembly plenary session after it concluded on the 29th. On this day, the motion to consent to the arrest of Representative Jeong was passed. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Kang Nahum and Jeon Jinyoung] The arrest motion against Jeong Jeongsun, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is accused of violating the Public Official Election Act and other charges, passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 29th.

The National Assembly held a plenary session at 2 p.m. that day and voted on the arrest motion against Representative Jeong. The voting results were 167 in favor, 12 against, 3 abstentions, and 4 invalid votes out of 186 members present, passing the motion. The People Power Party did not participate in the vote, which is interpreted as an intention for the Democratic Party to directly decide on the arrest consent of its own member.

This is the 14th time in history that an arrest motion against a member of the National Assembly has been passed, and the first time in over five years since Park Ki-chun of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy in 2015.

Representative Jeong is accused of violating the Public Official Election Act, Political Funds Act, and Personal Information Protection Act due to allegations of accounting fraud and illegal political fund receipt during the April 15 general election.

Before the vote on the arrest motion, Representative Jeong made a personal statement, appealing against the motion by saying, "If consent to arrest is given just because a fellow member did not attend, the prosecution will easily and conveniently request arrest warrants against members in the future," but failed to sway the members' opinions.

Immediately after the passage of the arrest motion, Representative Jeong expressed, "I sincerely thank my fellow members who stood by me until the end," and added, "I will humbly accept and abide by the result."

Hong Jungmin, the Democratic Party floor spokesperson, evaluated the voting result by saying, "The Democratic Party has always emphasized relinquishing the privileges of lawmakers, and today we kept that promise." He criticized the People Power Party, which abstained from voting, saying, "They have broken their promise to the people to serve faithfully as lawmakers."

The Justice Party also commented through Chief Spokesperson Jeong Hojin, stating, "The path that Democratic Party member Jeong Jeongsun stubbornly chose not to take the way she should go was ultimately the arrest motion. It is a case of reaping what one has sown."