Parliament rejects warrant motion for ex-DP lawmakers

The National Assembly on Monday rejected motions consenting to the arrests of Reps. Lee Sung-man and and Youn Kwan-suk over their alleged involvement in a cash-for-votes scandal that is the latest to rock the liberal Democratic Party (DP).

Rep. Youn Kwan-suk, right, bows to Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung as he passes in the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

The National Assembly on Monday rejected motions consenting to the arrests of Reps. Lee Sung-man and Youn Kwan-suk over their alleged involvement in a cash-for-votes scandal that is the latest to rock the liberal Democratic Party (DP).

The motion for Youn’s arrest was voted down 139-145 with nine abstentions, while the motion on Lee was rejected 132-155 with six abstentions.

By law, a sitting lawmaker can only be arrested while the National Assembly is in session if a majority of lawmakers present consent.

The two independent lawmakers left the DP last month after they were accused of helping distribute cash-stuffed envelopes to help shore up support for former chairman Song Young-gil’s eventually successful party leadership bid ahead of the DP national convention in May 2021.

Youn is suspected by prosecutors of having helped distribute some 60 million won ($45,500) to other DP lawmakers before the convention by divvying up the amount into envelopes containing 3 million won each.

He left the DP in early May alongside Lee, who is accused of being involved in distributing 9 million won to the chiefs of the Song campaign’s regional chapters.

Prosecutors suspect that Song’s campaign officials distributed envelopes of cash totaling 94 million won to party members, including up to 20 lawmakers, to shore up support for his candidacy.

Both Youn and Lee have denied the allegations, accusing the prosecution of fabricating the accusations to tarnish the DP’s image.

In a post uploaded to Facebook on Monday, Youn claimed the prosecution was in collusion with the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to bring down the DP ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections and vowed to “prevail against political persecution.”

Both lawmakers also spent the days leading up to the vote calling on support from DP lawmakers to oppose the motions that if approved would clear the way for their arrest, according to sources cited by the JoongAng Ilbo.

In his speech to the National Assembly on Monday, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon called on lawmakers to approve the pair’s arrest, citing evidence, including recordings of the lawmakers' conversations, that he argued made clear they were involved in the cash-for-votes scheme to get Song elected.

DP lawmaker Lee So-young told reporters after the vote that the motions failed “perhaps because the prevailing opinion among party members was that the [prosecutors’] investigation was excessive and the prosecution’s request for arrest warrants went beyond the pale.”

Lawmakers are deprived of their seats if they are sentenced to prison or fined more than 1 million won for violating election laws or campaign funding regulations.

The arrest of a sitting lawmaker has required parliamentary consent for 75 years.

A total of 67 motions for the arrest of a sitting lawmaker have been considered by the National Assembly since 1948 when Korea’s first constitution was promulgated.

Only 16 have been approved by the legislature, with 18 being rejected and 33 being withdrawn or expired.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]