The third special prosecution bill related to Kim Geon-hee, supported by six opposition parties, was passed at the National Assembly plenary session on the 14th. The People Power Party left the chamber before the vote, thereby abstaining from the vote. The revised bill, led by the Democratic Party, was approved with 191 participating opposition lawmakers voting in favor, as the ruling party members did not participate in the vote.
This special prosecution bill considerably revised an earlier version from the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee. It significantly narrowed the investigation scope to allegations related to the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation and suspicions involving “election broker” Myung Tae-gun. Moreover, the right to recommend special prosecutors was changed from the opposition’s recommendation to allowing the Chief Justice to recommend, while the opposition still holds veto power.
Although the investigation scope has been narrowed, the bill maintains the originally proposed large-scale investigation team size, comprising four deputy special prosecutors, 30 dispatched prosecutors, and 60 special investigators, totaling over 150 members—1.5 times the size of the Park Young-soo special prosecution team. The investigation period is also extended to a maximum of 150 days, compared to the previous maximum of 100 days.
The People Power Party strongly criticized the passage of the special prosecution bill, intending to request President Yoon Suk-yeol to exercise his veto power. As President Yoon is expected to use his veto right, the Democratic Party plans to have a re-vote in the plenary session on the 28th. During the re-vote, intense voting competition between ruling and opposition parties is expected. For a successful passage in the re-vote, eight ruling party members would need to break ranks and vote with the opposition.
People Power Party’s withdrawal from the vote is seen as a strategic decision to avoid internal conflicts and loss of votes in a situation where the decision was likely to be made by the majority opposition led by the Democratic Party.
Additionally, the National Assembly passed 36 other bills and ratification motions on this day. Among these, amendments to the Special Act on Punishment of Sexual Crimes and the Information and Communications Network Act, which address expansion of undercover investigations for sex crimes and measures against deepfake crimes, were processed through bipartisan agreement. Other major legislations that passed include laws supporting Cheonan warship incident victims, strengthening penalties for arms technology leakage overseas, tougher penalties for drunk driving (known as the Kim Ho-jung Prevention Act), compensation for damages from North Korean balloon propaganda, and support for single-parent families.