Request For Consent To Arrest Lawmaker Kang Sunwoo Sent To Prosecution...National Assembly Vote To Follow

Decision on Whether to Hold Warrant Hearing to Be Made After Vote

Kang Seonwoo, an independent lawmaker, is attending the Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 3rd. Yonhap News

The Seoul Central District Court announced on February 10 that it had sent a request for consent to arrest to the prosecution regarding independent National Assembly member Kang Sunwoo, for whom an arrest warrant was requested on charges of receiving 100 million won in nomination bribes.

Earlier, the prosecution had requested arrest warrants for Assemblywoman Kang and former Seoul Metropolitan Council member Kim Kyung on charges including violations of the Political Funds Act and breach of trust and bribery.

For an incumbent lawmaker, a pretrial detention hearing (substantive review of the warrant) is held only after the motion for consent to arrest passes the plenary session of the National Assembly. Once the court sends the motion for consent to arrest (request for consent to arrest) to the prosecution, it is forwarded through the Ministry of Justice to the National Assembly, where it is put to a vote.

Under the National Assembly Act, the Speaker of the National Assembly must report the request at the first plenary session convened after receiving it, and submit it to a vote between 24 and 72 hours after the report. If this deadline passes, it must be placed on the agenda and voted on at the next plenary session convened thereafter.