Passed with 188 Votes in Favor
Number of Ruling Party Lawmakers Supporting the Special Treason Prosecutor Act Drops from Five to One
Attention Focused on Whether Choi Sang-mok Will Exercise the Right to Request Reconsideration
The "Special Prosecutor Appointment Act for the Investigation of Treason Acts by the Yoon Seok-yeol Government (Special Treason Prosecutor Act)" was passed in the National Assembly plenary session on the 17th, led by the opposition parties. The Democratic Party of Korea proposed an amended version of the special prosecutor act that largely accepted the claims of the People Power Party, but except for Ahn Cheol-soo, the other members of the People Power Party voted against it.
On the same day, the National Assembly held a plenary session and passed the Special Treason Prosecutor Act with 188 votes in favor and 86 against out of 274 members present. Initially, the Democratic Party and the opposition submitted the "Special Prosecutor Appointment Act for the Investigation of Treason and Foreign Exchange Acts by the Yoon Seok-yeol Government," but they removed key provisions such as foreign exchange inducement and treason incitement, and changed the bill’s content to reduce the scale and schedule of the special prosecutor investigation. They then submitted the amended special prosecutor bill for a vote in the plenary session. Accordingly, the scope of the special prosecutor investigation was reduced to five cases that the People Power Party had independently proposed as investigation targets: ▲ National Assembly occupation incident ▲ Election Commission occupation incident ▲ Arrest and detention of politicians and others ▲ Armed mobilization, injury, and damage incidents ▲ Emergency martial law conspiracy incidents.
The Democratic Party secured votes from ruling party members to prevent Choi Sang-mok, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, from exercising his right to request reconsideration (veto). However, only one ruling party member (Ahn Cheol-soo) voted in favor. In the first Special Treason Prosecutor Act that passed the plenary session earlier, five People Power Party members (Ahn Cheol-soo, Kim Ye-ji, Kim Yong-tae, Kim Jae-seop, Han Ji-ah) participated, but the number of supporting members actually decreased this time. Members who voted in favor previously cast opposing votes this time. It appears that the People Power Party’s independent special prosecutor bill had an effect.
Earlier, the ruling and opposition parties held a marathon meeting lasting seven hours from afternoon to night. Both sides found some points of agreement regarding the scope and period of the prosecution investigation and special provisions for search and seizure, but ultimately, Kwon Seong-dong, leader of the People Power Party, declared the final breakdown.
After the plenary session, Floor Leader Kwon held a press conference and pointed out that the provision for investigative prosecution remained and the referral clause was problematic. Regarding this, he demanded that Acting Prime Minister Choi immediately exercise the right to request reconsideration.
On the other hand, the opposition party believes it will be difficult for Acting Prime Minister Choi to exercise the veto. This is because most of the parts criticized as unconstitutional were revised, and a significant portion of the People Power Party’s opinions were reflected. Park Sung-jun, Democratic Party’s senior deputy floor leader, also supported this view, saying, “We accepted almost all of the People Power Party’s proposals,” and “I believe Acting Prime Minister Choi will not exercise the veto.”
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