Choo Kyung-ho: "I Will Give Up Parliamentary Immunity and Face This with Dignity"

"Suspected Manipulation of Special Prosecutor's Investigation Results"

Choo Kyungho, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, stated on November 4 that he would "keep his promise to forgo parliamentary immunity from arrest" in response to the arrest warrant request by the Special Prosecutor for the Insurrection Case (Special Prosecutor Cho Eunsuk's team).

Speaking with reporters at the National Assembly that day, Assemblyman Choo said, "I will not hide behind parliamentary immunity from arrest and will face this head-on." On November 3, the special prosecutor requested an arrest warrant for Assemblyman Choo, who was the floor leader of the People Power Party at the time, on charges of participating in major insurrection-related duties, placing him at risk of arrest.

Yonhap News Agency

Regarding the inclusion in the warrant of a dinner on November 29 of last year-four days before the declaration of martial law-Assemblyman Choo explained, "That was a day when several senior members of the People Power Party had dinner at the official residence in Hannam-dong, but I was at a dinner with political reporters from a media outlet in Yeouido and only briefly attended the latter part of the gathering in Hannam-dong, where I was with several people."

As for the warrant's mention that the location of the caucus meeting for the vote on the resolution demanding the lifting of martial law was announced as the Budget Committee Room instead of the main assembly hall, Assemblyman Choo said, "The caucus meetings are always held alternately in either the Budget Committee Room or Room 246 of the main building. In this case, the staff decided to use the Budget Committee Room, so the notice went out accordingly. The warrant also includes the claim that this was done to prevent attendance at the main assembly session, which is simply not true."

Assemblyman Choo added, "I strongly suspect this is a highly political approach, designed to produce investigative results ordered by the Democratic Party and to fit a predetermined narrative. I will explain the details when I have the opportunity."