President Yoon Included, 'Swift Arrest Bill for Insurrection Suspects' Passed in National Assembly (Update)

A resolution demanding the swift arrest of President Yoon Seok-yeol and eight key figures related to the 'Emergency Martial Law Incident' passed the National Assembly plenary session.

On the 10th, the National Assembly held a plenary session and adopted the 'Resolution Demanding the Swift Arrest of Suspects of Treason Crimes' with 191 votes in favor, 94 against, and 3 abstentions out of 288 members present.

As the impeachment motion against President Yoon Seok-yeol failed to pass due to a lack of quorum caused by the collective abstention of People Power Party lawmakers, citizens gathered in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 9th, urging the impeachment of President Yoon. On the same day, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a candlelight rally at 6 p.m. in front of the National Assembly, followed by a candlelight protest organized by civic groups at 7 p.m. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

The resolution called for the prompt arrest of President Yoon, former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, among others.

Also included in the arrest demands were Park An-su, former Martial Law Commander and Army Chief of Staff; Yeo In-hyung, Commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command; Lee Jin-woo, Capital Defense Command Commander; Kwak Jong-geun, Army Special Warfare Command Commander; and Cho Ji-ho, Commissioner of the National Police Agency.

The resolution had previously been adopted solely by the opposition party at the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee on the 5th. Initially, only seven individuals excluding President Yoon were included in the resolution, but the Democratic Party of Korea submitted an amended version adding President Yoon during the plenary session.

Park Seong-jun, the Democratic Party's senior deputy floor leader, stated regarding the amendment, "President Yoon had the intent to overthrow the National Assembly established by the Constitution or to make it impossible to exercise its authority, constituting a disturbance of the national order." He added, "He corresponds to the leader of the treason crime and therefore needs to be included as a subject for swift arrest."

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