Vote amid ruling party members' exit
50 Billion Club passes with 183 votes, Kim Geon-hee Special Prosecutor passes with 182 votes
On the 27th, the National Assembly passed the designation of the special investigation laws concerning the Daejang-dong 5 billion Club and First Lady Kim Geon-hee as fast-track bills. The so-called dual special investigations will proceed to be submitted to the plenary session after a maximum of eight months, depending on the review results by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
On the same day, the National Assembly held a plenary session to conduct the voting procedure for the fast-track designation of the dual special investigation laws. In the vote for the fast-track designation, held while all members of the People Power Party had left, all 183 members voted in favor of the 5 billion Club special investigation, and the special investigation for First Lady Kim Geon-hee was approved with 182 votes in favor and one against.
Earlier, on the 25th, 182 opposition lawmakers from the Democratic Party and the Justice Party submitted a request to the National Assembly to designate the 5 billion Club and Kim Geon-hee special investigations as fast-track bills. The two parties agreed that the 5 billion Club special investigation would be based on the bill proposed by Representative Kang Eun-mi, and if it does not pass the full Legislation and Judiciary Committee within 180 days, the alternative approved by the first subcommittee of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee would be adopted as a revised bill in the plenary session.
Regarding the special investigation bill for Kim Geon-hee, the proposal by Justice Party Floor Leader Lee Eun-joo was set as the basis, but if it does not pass the full Legislation and Judiciary Committee within 180 days, further discussions on the investigation targets and special investigator recommendation methods will be held to prepare a revised bill for the plenary session. The Democratic Party intended to expand the scope of the special investigation related to the First Lady.
Initially, the Democratic Party and others rushed the fast-track schedule to enable the special investigation law vote within the regular National Assembly session, but the designation was delayed due to the Justice Party’s opposition, which wanted to follow the normal review procedures in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The Justice Party changed its stance and agreed to the fast-track designation after observing that the 5 billion Club special investigation bill, which passed the first subcommittee of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, was not submitted to the full committee.
After the 180-day review period, the bill can be brought to the plenary session after 60 days. Due to this, the political circle expects the dual special investigation bills to be discussed in the plenary session around the end of this year or the beginning of next year.
Political circles believe that negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties remain after the fast-track designation. Given the approximately eight months remaining, the schedule for the special investigations may change depending on political developments.
The Democratic Party lawmakers, who had been staging a sit-in protest in front of the National Assembly plenary hall demanding the passage of the special investigation laws, decided to end their protest starting from this day following the fast-track designation.
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