Ruling and Opposition Parties' Agreement Collapses...
Original Bill Maintained with Partial Revisions
Exclusion of National Investigation Headquarters and Military Prosecutors' Authority Included in Amendments
As the agreement between the ruling and opposition parties ultimately collapsed, the Democratic Party of Korea-led amendments to the three major special prosecutor bills (Insurrection, Kim Kunhee, Chae Sangbyeong) passed the National Assembly plenary session on September 11.
At the plenary session that day, the special prosecutor bills on insurrection and Chae Sangbyeong were passed unanimously with 168 votes in favor out of 168 present. The insurrection special prosecutor bill passed with 163 votes in favor and 2 abstentions out of 165 present. The People Power Party walked out en masse before the vote on the three special prosecutor bills began, following the start of the vote on the motion to arrest Kwon Seongdong.
The core of the three special prosecutor bill amendments passed in the plenary session is the expansion of investigation personnel and periods for each special prosecutor. The Democratic Party decided to maintain the original personnel and period but, through a revised bill, stipulated that if a case is transferred to the National Investigation Headquarters after the special prosecutor’s investigation period, the special prosecutor’s authority to direct the investigation will be excluded. The revised bill also includes the exclusion of military prosecutors’ command authority and the conditional live broadcasting of insurrection trials.
Previously, at a meeting between the floor leaders of both parties the day before, both sides agreed not to extend the investigation period or significantly increase personnel in the amendments to the three special prosecutor bills promoted by the Democratic Party. However, hardliners within the Democratic Party strongly opposed this, causing the situation to change rapidly.
Jeong Cheongrae, leader of the Democratic Party, also told reporters, "The agreement reached the previous day was unacceptable and did not reflect the leadership’s intentions, so I immediately ordered renegotiation. The core of the special prosecutor bill amendments is the extension of the investigation period, so negotiating not to extend it directly contradicts the original purpose of the special prosecutor bills."
However, Kim Byungki, floor leader of the Democratic Party, directly refuted this. On his Facebook page, Kim stated, "I have communicated closely with the party leadership, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and the special committee. There were various opinions regarding the investigation period during the process of finalizing the bill." Kim also demanded a public apology from Jeong.
At the general assembly of lawmakers held just before the plenary session, Jeong reportedly said, "There was a process of producing a revised bill through the general assembly and the highest decision-making body regarding the parts agreed upon by both parties, but I apologize to party members, the public, and lawmakers for the lack of smoothness in this process. This was due to my own shortcomings." However, it is reported that he did not offer a direct apology to Kim.
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