South Korea's ruling party delays push to pass controversial bills
The ruling Democratic Party on Tuesday delayed a planned plenary session to pass several contentious bills, including one that would halt criminal trials faced by recently elected President Lee Jae-myung. File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI | License Photo
SEOUL, June 10 (UPI) -- South Korea's ruling Democratic Party on Tuesday withdrew a plan to pass several controversial bills this week, including one aimed at halting criminal trials for an elected president, as partisan clashes heat up in the early days of the new administration of President Lee Jae-myung.
Democratic Party spokesman Noh Jong-myeon met with reporters at the National Assembly and said that a plenary session that had been planned for Thursday would be shelved until new floor leadership is formed.
"The various bills you were curious about will not be processed this week," Noh said.
"Once the new floor leadership is formed, the bills will be processed quickly, and the subsequent situations will be entirely up to the new floor leadership and the lawmakers to decide," he said.
The party is scheduled to elect its new floor leader on Friday.
Among the legislation that the Democratic Party was planning to pass were a slate of bills that would alter the structure of public broadcasters and a contentious bill aimed at revising the Criminal Procedure Act to halt criminal trials for an elected president.
The opposition People Power Party has strongly criticized the bill, claiming it was specifically introduced to favor President Lee Jae-myung.
Lee is facing five criminal trials on a range of charges, but legal questions around immunity have swirled since he took office last week. He won the June 3 snap election after impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office over his botched imposition of martial law.
PPP floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong said during a party meeting on Tuesday that the bill's passage threatens to "destroy the judicial system by creating a law for only one person."
Lee had been scheduled to face a retrial on June 18 over election law violation charges. On Monday, however, the Seoul High Court announced that it was postponing the retrial indefinitely, citing Article 84 of the Constitution, which exempts a sitting president from criminal prosecution except in the case of insurrection or treason.
Lee has denied the charges as politically motivated, and Kweon on Tuesday called for the president to proceed with the retrial.
"If all the indictments are nothing more than fabrications and he is not guilty, as he stated during the election process, then proudly declare that you will accept the trial," Kweon said.
Lee's cabinet on Tuesday, meanwhile, approved bills to appoint special counsels to probe the martial law bid by former President Yoon and corruption allegations against his wife Kim Keon Hee. Another investigation will focus on alleged interference by the presidential office and the Ministry of National Defense in the 2023 drowning death of Marine Chae Su-geun during a flood rescue mission.
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