DP Withdraws Trial Suspension Bill After One Day... "Coordinated with Presidential Office"

Park Suhyeon: "Time to Focus on Tariff Talks and APEC Achievements"

The Democratic Party of Korea withdrew its plan to pass the so-called 'trial suspension law' related to President Lee Jaemyung just one day after announcing its intention to process the bill within the year. This move appears to reflect concerns about unnecessary controversy arising at a time when the party should be focusing on publicizing the results of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit and pushing for legislative efforts.

Park Suhyeon, Chief Spokesperson for the Democratic Party, met with reporters at the National Assembly’s press center on the 3rd and stated, "Through a meeting of the party leadership, including Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheongrae, we have agreed not to pursue the National Governance Stability Act (the Democratic Party's term for the trial suspension law for sitting presidents, an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act)."

The previous day, at a press briefing held at the National Assembly, Chief Spokesperson Park had said, "The People Power Party is stoking the fire by calling for five trials against President Lee Jaemyung, so the Democratic Party cannot remain indifferent. Now is the time to focus on public discourse around judicial reform, and discussion of the so-called 'trial suspension law' has become an unavoidable practical issue."

Yonhap News Agency

The reason for the abrupt change in stance within a day was cited as current issues such as the outcome of the APEC Summit and follow-up measures to the Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations. There is a perception that making the trial suspension law a political issue at a time when the government’s achievements should be highlighted could become a burden for the administration and the ruling party.

Chief Spokesperson Park explained, "There may be a range of opinions within the party regarding the trial suspension law, but I do not believe there is a need for a process to gather them. This matter has also been coordinated with the presidential office."

He further clarified, "It was merely a general position," adding, "We only wanted to make it clear that the People Power Party was responsible for raising the issue. We never strongly expressed an intention to push the bill forward."

The Democratic Party had also planned to process the trial suspension law at a plenary session after passing it through the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee in June, but postponed the vote just before the session at that time.

Kang Yujeong, spokesperson for the presidential office, also stated in a briefing that "the consistent position of the presidential office is that the bill is unnecessary."