Democrats Move to Submit 'Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Act' to Plenary Session... Party Resolution to Impeach Four Prosecutors Proposed

The Democratic Party of Korea plans to submit the Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Act to the plenary session after the government questioning session at the National Assembly ends on the afternoon of the 2nd. The ruling party, the People Power Party, will launch a filibuster (unlimited debate) to block the special prosecutor bill. The opposition parties plan to exercise the right to end debate and conclude the filibuster 24 hours later, on the afternoon of the 3rd, and then proceed with the vote on the Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Act.

Yoon Jong-gun, the Democratic Party floor spokesperson, said in a back briefing at the members' meeting held ahead of the plenary session that day, "Since the People Power Party said they would filibuster the Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Act, it is expected that the passage of the special prosecutor bill will be postponed until the evening of tomorrow (the 3rd)."

The Democratic Party is expected to exercise the right to end debate in cooperation with the opposition to stop the ruling party's filibuster. According to the National Assembly Act, if more than one-third of the total members request the Speaker of the National Assembly to agree to end unlimited debate, and if more than three-fifths of the total members approve after 24 hours from the start of the debate, the debate can be forcibly ended.

The People Power Party objected, saying that the Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Act was not agreed upon by both parties and that submitting and voting on it in the plenary session held for government questioning was not in line with National Assembly customs. Due to the filibuster, the economic sector government questioning scheduled for the next day became inevitably disrupted.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Impeachment Motion Filed Against Four, Including Prosecutors Investigating Lee Jae-myung

On the same day, the Democratic Party also filed a party-line impeachment motion against prosecutors who led investigations related to former leader Lee Jae-myung, including the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case. Spokesperson Yoon said, "This is intended to use the National Assembly's authority to stop illegal acts by prosecutors abusing their investigative powers," adding, "It was adopted as a party line without any objections."

Four prosecutors are subject to the impeachment motion. They include Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, who handled Lee’s North Korea remittance investigation, and Prosecutors Eom Hee-jun and Kang Baek-shin, who were in charge of the Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong investigations. Prosecutor Kim Young-chul, who was implicated in allegations of backdoor dealings with Jang Si-ho, the niece of Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil), during the investigation and trial of the state manipulation scandal, is also included in the impeachment targets.

The Democratic Party plans to first review the appropriateness of the prosecutors' impeachment through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. It is expected that the committee chair, Jeong Cheong-rae, will take the lead in highlighting the impeachment motion. Min Hyung-bae, a member of the Democratic Party and head of the Prosecutor Crime Response Task Force (TF), said to reporters after submitting the impeachment motion, "Whether the impeachment motion against the prosecutors is appropriate and what illegal acts were committed can be requested for investigation by the Judiciary Committee through a plenary session resolution," adding, "The resolution to request the Judiciary Committee’s investigation was submitted as a party line. Subsequent procedures will be postponed."

However, Min said regarding the content and scope of the Judiciary Committee’s investigation, "The Judiciary Committee will decide, so it is not appropriate to discuss it here," adding, "How the investigation will be conducted will be determined by the Judiciary Committee."

Meanwhile, Park Chan-dae, acting party leader and floor leader, issued an emergency standby directive to members in response to the People Power Party’s filibuster plan. All members were instructed to remain on emergency standby around the National Assembly until the end of the June extraordinary session, and those who had traveled abroad were urged to return immediately.