Bill for special probe into Marine's death nixed in Assembly revote

Ruling party begins filibuster for another set of contentious bills

The National Assembly holds a plenary session in western Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)

A bill recently vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol that would mandate a special counsel investigation into the Defense Ministry's and military's response to a Marine's death, was scrapped at the National Assembly on Thursday amid intensifying bipartisan struggle.

The revote had 194 votes in favor to 104 against the bill. Overriding a presidential veto requires a majority of the 300-member body to be present with two-thirds of them in favor.

There was one abstention in the revote that involved a total 299 Assembly members.

The revote was held about two weeks after Yoon exercised his veto power.

The now-scrapped bill called for the appointment of a special counsel to probe allegations that Yoon's office and the Defense Ministry inappropriately interfered in the military's probe into the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who was killed during a search and rescue mission for victims of heavy downpours in July last year.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which holds a controlling majority of 170 seats in the 300-member, single-chamber parliament, had tabled the vetoed bill to override the veto.

Despite the outcome of Thursday's plenary session, the main opposition is expected to draft and pass through a similar bill in the near future, as it had warned it would do in recent weeks.

Ahead of the revote, Han Dong-hoon, the newly elected ruling party leader, said at a morning intraparty leadership meeting he and his party "strongly oppose" the special counsel bill.

"(We) strongly oppose the special counsel probe bill into the death of Cpl. Chae which was drafted by the Democratic Party," Han said. "The bill is (a relentless effort) to destroy the nation's legislative system and will ultimately harm our citizens (if passed into law). The People Power Party will prevent our citizens from being harmed through the passing of a wrongful bill."

Han's remarks are in line with the ruling party's stance that the results of the ongoing investigations by police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials into the death of Cpl. Chae and the Yoon administration's alleged interference in the military's probe into the case should be considered before any such bill is pursued.

But Han has also recently suggested a special counsel investigation in which an official outside the two major parties here, such as the chief justice, has the authority to appoint counsel members. On the other hand, ruling party Floor Leader Choo Kyung-ho has maintained opposition to any form of special counsel investigation of the matter.

The scrapped bill was an updated version of a similar bill passed by the opposition-controlled Assembly in May. The bill was also vetoed by Yoon and eventually scrapped before the term of the 22nd Assembly kicked off in late May. The upgraded version had bolstered the opposition party's authority to recommend a special counsel, while expanding the subject and scope of the investigation.

The opposition-led Assembly also tabled four controversial broadcasting bills seeking to reduce the Yoon administration's influence over public broadcasters, following the revote on the special counsel investigation bill.

The People Power Party warned of protesting the move with a filibuster, similar to the 24-hour filibuster it staged ahead of the opposition-led Assembly's passing of the special counsel bill early this month.

"We cannot agree on the Democratic Party's unilateral move that has held a parliamentary committee meeting and pushed through the four bills on taking control of broadcasting without any proper or serious discussions between the ruling and opposition parties," Choo said during a supreme council meeting.

Under the National Assembly Act, a filibuster can be stopped after 24 hours if at least three-fifths of all parliament members, or 180 lawmakers, consent to end it.

By Jung Min-kyung(mkjung@heraldcorp.com)