▲ Acting President Choi Sang-mok speaks during a Cabinet meeting in Seoul on Jan. 21, 2025. (Yonhap)

Yoon-special counsel bill

Choi demands parliamentary reconsideration of bill on special counsel probe into Yoon

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Yonhap) -- Acting President Choi Sang-mok on Friday demanded the National Assembly reconsider an opposition-proposed bill that calls for a special counsel probe into President Yoon Suk Yeol on his failed martial law attempt last month.

The revised bill, proposed by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), was passed by the opposition-controlled parliament on Jan. 17, despite unanimous opposition from lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party. The opposition bloc currently dominates the 300-member parliament with 192 seats.

"At this point, as judicial proceedings are still ongoing, many have pointed out that it is difficult to justify the need for a separate special counsel," Choi said while presiding over an extraordinary Cabinet meeting.

Choi also noted that Yoon and other key military and police officials involved in the Dec. 3 martial law attempt have already been arrested and indicted.

The Cabinet was expected to approve the motion for reconsideration soon.

It would mark the seventh time that the acting president has exercised his veto power since assuming interim leadership last month.

The latest bill omits allegations that Yoon has committed "treason" by attempting to provoke a deliberate conflict with North Korea, which were previously part of a bill rejected by Choi last month.

The ruling party had criticized the DP-proposed bill as being "overly broad" and said it would propose its own version that does not include insurrection charges against Yoon.

On Sunday, prosecutors indicted and detained Yoon on charges of leading an insurrection after receiving the case from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which does not have a legal mandate to indict a president.

Yoon is charged with conspiring with former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and others to incite an insurrection by declaring an unconstitutional and illegal state of emergency, despite the absence of any signs of war, armed conflict or a comparable national crisis.

Yoon, who is also facing an impeachment trial, has become the first sitting president in South Korea's history to be indicted while in detention.

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]