DP rams three controversial bills through Assembly amid PPP boycott

Two bills call for special counsel probes into first lady Kim Keon Hee and the military’s handling of a young Marine’s death, while the third encourages the use of local currency vouchers to stimulate the economy.

A bill to establish a special counsel probe into various allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee passes in the absence of People Power Party lawmakers in the National Assembly on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) railroaded three contentious bills through the National Assembly on Thursday amid a boycott by the government-aligned People Power Party (PPP).

The first bill, which passed with support from 167 lawmakers from the DP and other parties, calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate first lady Kim Keon Hee for her alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme, her acceptance of a luxury bag from a Korean American pastor and her purported interference in the PPP’s candidate nomination process ahead of the April 10 general election.

The bill sets the initial length of the probe at 90 days and allows it to be extended twice by 30 days each time. It also allows the DP and another liberal party to nominate one person each to serve as a special counsel and the president to select one of the nominees.

The leader of the minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party, Cho Kuk, claimed on Thursday that accusations of Kim meddling in the PPP nomination process would warrant President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment if they were found to be true.

“Presidential interference in party nominations is illegal, to say nothing of a spouse’s involvement,” Cho said at a press conference in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla, on Thursday.

Cho argued that a special counsel probe “is the only way” to properly investigate the allegations against the first lady, arguing that the state prosecution service could not be relied on to carry out a fair probe given the president’s previous tenure as prosecutor general.

A bill to establish a special counsel probe into the first lady’s affairs was first passed by the National Assembly in January but was scrapped after failing to garner enough votes to overcome the president’s veto.

The National Assembly also passed a bill on Thursday calling for the appointment of another special counsel to examine the military’s handling of a young Marine corporal’s death.

The DP and others have accused the Yoon administration and the Defense Ministry of interfering in an internal military investigation regarding the drowning of Cpl. Chae Su-geun during a mission to rescue victims of heavy rains in July last year.

This special counsel bill, which passed with support from all 170 lawmakers present, is the fourth regarding Chae’s death to be passed by the legislature since last year. The previous three were all rejected by Yoon and later scrapped.

The bill’s latest iteration gives the chief justice of the Supreme Court the right to nominate four candidates to serve as the special counsel, with the DP and one other liberal party to choose one each before a final selection by the president.

The third bill passed by the National Assembly calls for using local currency vouchers to boost the economy. The bill passed with support from 167 lawmakers, with only three lawmakers from the Reform Party opposing it.

Speaking at a meeting of his party’s lawmakers the same day, PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho criticized the DP for “ignoring the original legislative schedule agreed upon by both major parties on Aug. 26” and characterized Thursday’s plenary session as “nothing more than a meeting of DP members.”

He also criticized the DP for pushing ahead with “zombie legislation” over repeated objections from the PPP and the government and warned that the contentious bills “would likely be scrapped” once the president exercises his veto.

Although local media reported that the PPP could mount a filibuster to delay a floor vote on each bill, the party appeared to have decided to simply boycott Thursday’s plenary session, relying instead on Yoon’s veto power to block the bills from becoming law.

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