DP-backed bills scrapped as lawmakers fail to defeat Yoon's presidential vetoes

Three contentious bills backed by the liberal Democratic Party (DP) were scrapped in the National Assembly on Friday after failing to muster enough support from lawmakers to override President Yoon Suk Yeol's vetoes.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, third from left, and Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk, second from right, hold up placards during a protest by liberal lawmakers against President Yoon Suk Yeol's veto of a special counsel bill to probe various allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee. The bill was scrapped on Friday in the face of opposition from the conservative People Power Party, which is aligned with the government. [YONHAP]

Three contentious bills backed by the liberal Democratic Party (DP) were scrapped in the National Assembly on Friday after failing to muster enough support from lawmakers to override President Yoon Suk Yeol's vetoes.

Two of the scrapped bills called for special counsel probes into various allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee and the military’s handling of the death of a young Marine corporal, while the other bill promoted the use of localized currency vouchers intended to stimulate regional economies.

The bills failed in the face of opposition from the conservative People Power Party (PPP), which holds 108 seats against the DP’s 170 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

The special counsel bill targeting the first lady was supported by 194 lawmakers but opposed by 104, falling short of the two-thirds threshold required to overcome a presidential veto.

The bill called for an independent probe not only into Kim’s alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme but also into her acceptance of a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor in 2022 and suspicions that she interfered in the PPP’s candidate nomination process before the April general election. The bill is the second such legislation to be scrapped following a similar bill that also failed to overcome the president’s veto in a revote in January.

The other special counsel bill called for a probe into allegations that the presidential office and the Defense Ministry interfered in the military’s investigation into the death of Marine Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who drowned during a search and rescue mission amid flooding during heavy rain in July last year.

That legislation, which was also supported by 104 lawmakers on Friday, was the fourth special counsel bill pushed through the National Assembly by the DP to address allegations surrounding Chae’s death.

The third bill that was scrapped due to the PPP’s opposition would have mandated the creation of currency vouchers by the central government and regional authorities to stimulate their local economies. The presidential office has argued that such vouchers could lead to fiscal disparities between regional governments, while the PPP has criticized them as wasteful spending.

Lawmakers vote at the National Assembly in the Yeouido, western Seoul, on Friday. [YONHAP]

Hours before the revote, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon said the vetoed bills “must be blocked,” making clear his opposition to the DP-backed legislation despite recent allegations that a Yoon administration official named Kim Dae-nam had tried to sabotage his election as party chairman.

The release of a recording of Kim offering dirt on Han to a left-leaning YouTube channel called Voice of Seoul, which he said was to please the first lady, reignited rumors of a rift between Yoon and Han.

However, the presidential office on Thursday denied that the president or the first lady had been involved in Kim’s offer to tarnish Han’s reputation.

Although Han served as Yoon’s first justice minister from May 2022 to the end of last year, the two men appear to have drifted apart due to wide-ranging differences over how to handle several political issues.

According to observers, one of the issues that drove a wedge between Yoon and Han was their disagreement over how to address various allegations of wrongdoing by the first lady.

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