Yoon vetoes four bills passed by opposition parties, including Special Act on Jeonse Fraud

A victim of Jeonse Fraud wipes away tears during a press conference calling for the promulgation of an amendment to the Charter Fraud Victim Support Special Act in front of the Presidential Office Building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on May 29. By Kwon Do-hyun

President Yoon Suk-yeol on May 29 exercised his right of veto on four of the five bills passed by the opposition the previous day, including an amendment to the Special Act on Jeonse Fraud. It is the 14th bill that Yoon vetoed. The bills Yoon vetoed were scrapped as the term of the 21st National Assembly ended. Opposition parties have criticized Yoon’s continued vetoes as a “poisoned chalice leading to a dead duck.” The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said it would re-propose the bills in the 22nd National Assembly.

Yoon approved a request for reconsideration on the four bills that were voted on at an extraordinary Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. The four bills include the Special Act on Jeonse Fraud, the Democratic Merit Act, the Agricultural and Fishery Chamber Act, and the Korean Beef Industry Support Act. The bills should return to the National Assembly for a re-decision, but since it was the last day of the 21st National Assembly, they would be automatically scrapped. Yoon has already become the president who exercised the most veto power except for former President Syng-man Rhee.

However, Yoon accepted the “Special Act for Relief and Support for Victims of the Sewol Ferry Sinking Disaster” passed by the opposition the day before. The bill includes extending the deadline for medical support for victims of the Sewol ferry disaster by five years. “It was in accordance with the ruling party‘s proposal (to veto the four bills),” a senior official at the presidential office said in a phone interview. Chung Kyung-ho, floor leader of the PPP, proposed a request for reconsideration on the four bills, including the Special Act on Jeonse Fraud.

Kang Yoo-jung, a spokesperson for the DPK, said in a written briefing that "What President Yoon rejected is a responsibility for the lives of the people." In a commentary, Bae Soo-jin, a spokesperson for the Rebuilding Korea Party, said, "We will let you know the end of the cruel regime that makes people cry, at least it cannot wipe away their tears." Kim Sung-yeol, a senior spokesperson for the New Reform Party, said in a commentary, "The continued exercise of veto power is only a “poisoned chalice leading to a dead duck.”

The DPK plans to re-introduce the bills that Yoon vetoed in the 22nd National Assembly, including a bill to mandate a special counsel investigation into the death of Marine Corporal Chae Su-geun, which was ultimately rejected in the parliamentary re-voting the previous day. The 22nd National Assembly is expected to be locked in a veto battle as well.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.