The Democratic Party of Korea plans to push for a re-vote on the special investigation laws concerning the internal rebellion and First Lady Kim Geon-hee within this week, immediately after the expiration of the arrest warrant execution deadline for President Yoon Seok-yeol. Ahead of the parliamentary vote, there is also a mood to consider amendments to the special investigation laws that reduce contentious issues in order to maximize defections from the ruling party.
The Democratic Party is expected to submit the re-request for the dual special investigation laws to the plenary session of the National Assembly as early as the 7th and proceed with the re-vote. The Kim Geon-hee special investigation law targets 15 allegations, including the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case and election fraud in the 20th presidential primary through Myung Tae-gyun. The internal rebellion special investigation law is for investigating President Yoon’s December 3 emergency martial law and involves the largest-ever special investigation team with about 200 personnel including prosecutors.
The reason the Democratic Party is accelerating the re-vote on the dual special investigation laws is due to signs that the impeachment political crisis is becoming prolonged beyond expectations. The High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Agency has temporarily halted the execution of the arrest warrant against President Yoon, causing a deadlock between the ruling and opposition parties. The People Power Party has started to resist by emphasizing the unfairness and impropriety of the warrant execution attempt. Their strategy appears to be to prolong the impeachment crisis as much as possible to highlight Lee Jae-myung’s judicial risks.
Conversely, the Democratic Party is under time pressure. Since the impeachment motion against President Yoon was swiftly passed just two weeks after the emergency martial law, the progress of the arrest and investigation has been sluggish for a month. The only advancement so far is the addition of constitutional court justices Cho Han-chang and Jung Gye-seon, enabling the Constitutional Court to operate with an '8-member system.' As the impeachment crisis shows signs of prolongation, dissatisfaction is emerging within the Democratic Party. At a parliamentary meeting on the same day, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung strongly criticized, in an unscheduled public statement, that "(President Yoon) is resisting the execution of the arrest warrant lawfully issued by the court, with the security office using force and even armed resistance."
The Democratic Party believes that activating the dual special investigation laws can tip the balance in the current deadlock. This is because it would allow investigations into ruling party figures suspected of involvement in the impeachment. A key variable in the re-vote on the dual special investigation laws is whether amendments to the special investigation laws will be made. How much the Democratic Party will concede in amendments to secure defections from the ruling party is also crucial. Within the opposition, there is talk of removing the 'Myung Tae-gyun allegation' from the Kim Geon-hee special investigation law. The ruling party reportedly rejects this because they fear that expanding the allegations related to First Lady Kim would cause a significant political ripple both inside and outside the political sphere.
Some in the opposition also suggest that pressure on Cabinet members should be intensified, including the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok. However, there is concern that repeated impeachments of Cabinet members could lead to political turmoil and a backlash from public opinion. The re-vote on the dual special investigation laws will pass if a majority of the total members are present and two-thirds or more of the attending members (200 seats) vote in favor. If all 192 opposition members vote in favor, 8 defections from the ruling party are needed.
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