a day ago
Partisan feuds intensify ahead of contentious bills
- PPP's absence at Lee's inauguration Friday exposes persisting political division
- Controversy over presidential pardon for high-profile liberal politicians drags on
- DP-sponsored special counsel investigation into PPP sparks resistance
South Korea's parliament is expected to vote for contentious bills later this week at the National Assembly's plenary session, which may add to escalating bipartisan strife over a recent presidential pardon and a probe targeting the main opposition party.
This is the latest of several recent events contributing to Korea's political polarization, which has continued to deepen in the wake of former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law imposition in December 2024.
The divide was especially noticeable when main opposition People Power Party figures did not attend President Lee Jae Myung's official inauguration ceremony Friday. The party has lambasted the presidential pardon of convicted liberal politicians, effective the same day, as well as the bills to be voted on this week.
From as early as Thursday, the National Assembly is poised to process contentious bills put to the vote in the parliamentary session that terminated on Aug. 6.
Earlier in August, the People Power Party hinted at filibustering five bills sponsored by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. These included three bills to weaken an administration's power to organize the boardrooms of KBS, MBC and EBS, respectively; the so-called "Yellow Envelope" bill, which would ban companies from claiming damages incurred by labor unions' strikes; and a Commercial Act revision to enhance minority shareholders' rights to elect a corporate board director.
Before Aug. 6, only one of the five, regarding boardroom organization of KBS, passed the parliament, and no plenary session has taken place since.
The liberal-leaning parties at the National Assembly have enough seats, if combined, to end a filibuster 24 hours after initiated, meaning a filibuster provides little bargaining power to the People Power Party, which has only 107 lawmakers at the 298-member parliament.
People Power Party spokesperson Kwon Dong-wook said in a statement Sunday that these bills sponsored by the liberal parties are "filled with ideological bias."
Although Lee pledged to "move beyond old ideological divisions toward dialogue, compromise, and shared progress" in a Liberation Day address Friday morning, the political divide remained visible later that night.
At the so-called "civic inauguration" ceremony, the main opposition party's leadership was absent, along with prominent conservatives such as former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.
The People Power Party lashed out at the ruling bloc for granting clemency to liberal-leaning politicians. Among them were Cho Kuk, former leader of the minor Rebuilding Korea Party, who was jailed for fabricating his siblings' academic credentials, and Youn Mee-hyang, a former liberal lawmaker who was handed down a suspended sentence for embezzling donations to "comfort women" victims as a former leader of a rights group supporting the victims.
Also on Friday, Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party was seen holding a placard denouncing the pardon of Cho and Youn during the Liberation Day ceremony.
Rep. Bak Seung-a of the Democratic Party on Saturday described Ahn's action as a publicity stunt with a political purpose, given that Ahn is one of the candidates vying for the position of party chair.
The People Power Party, in the meantime, is also bracing for a special counsel's renewed attempt to conduct a search operation at the party's headquarters in Seoul, as the special counsel seeks to obtain personal information of some 5 million party members.
The first attempt, a surprise raid on Wednesday, followed speculations that religious sects, including the Unification Church, may have exerted influence on the party's elections by having religious members join the party.
A senior official of the Unification Church, surnamed Yoon, is accused of involvement in the Yoon couple's alleged crimes of influence-peddling in a party election, in return for projects in Cambodia, which were in the church's interests.
Wednesday's raid ended in a failure following a 15-hour standoff with party members. Following this, People Power Party chair candidate Kim Moon-soo said in the primary Friday that the special counsel's attempt to seize the list of all 5 million people affiliated with the party, "suppresses democracy" in South Korea.
