김나영
| 2023-03-02 13:12:12
ruling party-opposition leader
Ruling party accuses opposition of holding 'bulletproof' parliament session to shield party leader
SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday accused the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) of holding a "bulletproof" parliament session to protect leader Lee Jae-myung from arrest over corruption charges.
The National Assembly held an extraordinary session Wednesday, though it was a public holiday, at the request of the DP, which holds a majority of seats in the parliament. Wednesday was the March 1 Independence Movement day, when South Korea marks the anniversary of a 1919 uprising against Japan's colonial rule.
By law, parliamentary consent is necessary to arrest a lawmaker while parliament is in session.
"If there is a public holiday, the parliament is actually supposed to open a session the day after, but the DP called the Assembly and spent the day in vain even without discussing the agenda," PPP floor leader Joo Ho-young said in a party meeting.
DP Chair Lee has been under investigation on charges of corruption and bribery in connection with development projects and donations to a municipal football club dating back to his time as the mayor of Seongnam, south of Seoul, from 2010-2018.
Lee has denied all the allegations, branding the investigation as politically orchestrated by the Yoon Suk Yeol government to remove a "political enemy." Lee ran in last year's presidential election where Yoon won by a razor-thin margin over Lee.
Last month, prosecutors sought a warrant to arrest Lee, marking the first such move ever against a leader of the country's largest opposition party, but the Assembly voted narrowly to reject the arrest motion.
On Monday, the Assembly voted down the arrest motion by 139-138 with nine abstentions and 11 votes deemed invalid. The result showed that many of the DP lawmakers could have cast dissenting votes, as the DP holds 169 out of 299 parliamentary seats.
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