"Starting with the People Power Party"
62 Affiliated Lawmakers Sign Pledge
On the 21st, lawmakers affiliated with the People Power Party signed a pledge to relinquish their parliamentary immunity from arrest.
That afternoon, the People Power Party held a pledge ceremony during a party meeting where members signed a pledge stating, "I pledge to the people that I will relinquish my parliamentary immunity from arrest."
Jeong Gyeong-hee, the party's deputy floor leader, acted as the moderator and said, "We will not just give up privileges in words but show it through our actions," adding, "We will start by changing the People Power Party. We will regain the trust of the people." After individually signing the pledge, the lawmakers stood together and shouted the slogan "Political Reform with the People Power Party." Among the 112 People Power Party lawmakers, 62 attended the ceremony.
Earlier, about 50 People Power Party lawmakers had announced a pledge in a National Assembly press conference in March stating, "If a motion for consent to arrest is submitted during a session due to my criminal charges, I will relinquish the parliamentary immunity from arrest stipulated in Article 44 of the Constitution and request fellow lawmakers to approve the motion through a personal statement in the plenary session," promising this to the public.
The People Power Party's official declaration to relinquish immunity at the party level on this day appears to be aimed at Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. On the 19th, Lee stated in a parliamentary negotiation group leaders' speech that he would relinquish his immunity and voluntarily appear if an arrest warrant were issued.
In response, Kim Ki-hyun, leader of the People Power Party, said at the Supreme Council meeting on the same day, "It seems to be an attempt to temporarily avoid internal pressure to resign and public demand for resignation," adding, "I hope Lee will clarify how he will concretely implement this pledge to relinquish immunity."
It has been reported that the Democratic Party has not yet discussed participating in relinquishing parliamentary immunity at the party level. Kim Han-gyu, the party's floor spokesperson, told reporters at the National Assembly the day before, "Lawmakers have not yet individually discussed and reached a consensus," adding, "Most lawmakers sympathize with the leader's decision, but there is only a general atmosphere that lawmakers' decisions may be required if a similar incident occurs."
Meanwhile, Yoon Jae-ok, the People Power Party floor leader, told reporters after the party meeting that regarding the reduction of the number of lawmakers proposed by Kim at the negotiation group leaders' speech the previous day, "There will be election law negotiations at the Political Reform Special Committee, and we will discuss and coordinate the positions of both parties then," adding, "We will hold a party meeting to discuss (the party's stance on pushing this forward)."
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