Second-Highest Number of Signatures After Yoon Sukyeol Impeachment Petition
Heo Euna: "The Ethics Committee Must Be Formed Immediately to Address the Issue"
The petition to expel Lee Junseok, a member of the Reform Party, from the National Assembly closed with the support of more than 600,000 people. This marks the second-highest number of signatures in the history of the National Assembly's public petitions.
The National Assembly announced that the petition, which began on June 4, closed at midnight on July 5 with 604,630 signatures.
This is the second-largest number of signatures ever, following last June's petition calling for the immediate submission of an impeachment motion against President Yoon Sukyeol, which gathered approximately 1.43 million signatures. The third-highest was the petition urging the impeachment and special investigation of President Yoon Sukyeol for insurrection, which closed in January of this year with around 400,000 signatures.
On May 27, during a televised presidential candidate debate, Lee was criticized for making inappropriate remarks about women. Subsequently, legal professionals and civic groups filed complaints against him for alleged violations of the Information and Communications Network Act and the Public Official Election Act. As a result, calls for his expulsion grew, including the submission of a public petition demanding his removal from office.
Under the National Assembly's public petition system, if a petition receives more than 50,000 signatures within 30 days, it is automatically referred to the relevant standing committee. In this case, the matter will be referred to the National Assembly Steering Committee for formal review.
However, since the Special Ethics Committee has not yet been formed, it appears unlikely that the petition regarding Lee will immediately proceed to disciplinary review.
Heo Euna, former leader of the Reform Party and now a member of the Democratic Party, urged immediate action on her social media the previous day, stating, "It is now time for the National Assembly to respond to the demands of the people."
Heo further stated, "Can the excuse that 'there is no Ethics Committee, so nothing can be done' really convince the public? Avoiding responsibility due to institutional gaps is tantamount to declaring the bankruptcy of democracy. The Ethics Committee must be established immediately, and this matter must be formally addressed."
She added, "If the National Assembly truly faces the public, Lee Junseok's expulsion is not an issue that can be ignored."
Expulsion of a lawmaker requires review by the Ethics Committee and a resolution by the plenary session, with the approval of at least two-thirds of all sitting members (200 votes). In the history of Korean constitutional government, the only case of a lawmaker being expelled from the National Assembly was on October 4, 1979, when Kim Youngsam, then leader of the New Democratic Party, was expelled for criticizing the Park Chunghee regime in a foreign media interview.
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