[Summary] "Conflicts with the Constitution" Geum Tae-seop Disciplinary Controversy... Flood of Opposition Voices from Lawmakers

Disagreement Among Leadership Over Geum Tae-seop's Disciplinary Action... Political Circles Stirred

Former Democratic Party lawmaker Geum Tae-seop Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] The leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea is showing differing opinions regarding the disciplinary action against former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop. Supreme Council member Kim Hae-young pointed out that the disciplinary action against former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop conflicts with the Constitution. Other lawmakers also expressed critical views on the disciplinary action against Geum. Park Yong-jin, a lawmaker from the same party, criticized party leader Lee Hae-chan, who emphasized the justification for the disciplinary action based on forced party consensus, stating that such grounds are not stipulated in the party's rules and regulations. Voices calling for the withdrawal of the disciplinary action also emerged from the opposition.

On the 3rd, Kim Hae-young, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, pointed out at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in the morning, "(The disciplinary action against former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop) may conflict with the provisions of the Constitution and the National Assembly Act."

He continued, "As a member of the party leadership, I had many concerns about commenting on the decision of the Ethics Tribunal, an independent decision-making body, but I believe this is a very important issue and would like to express my opinion," referring to the disciplinary issue of former lawmaker Geum.

Kim said, "Article 114-2 of the National Assembly Act stipulates that lawmakers, as representatives of the people, are not bound by the opinions of their affiliated parties and vote according to their conscience," adding, "I believe this provision of the National Assembly Act realizes at the National Assembly Act level the constitutional value in Article 46, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution, which is the highest norm of the Republic of Korea's legal order, stating that lawmakers perform their duties prioritizing national interests according to their conscience."

He added, "In particular, this provision of the National Assembly Act can be interpreted as guaranteeing that even if the concept of de facto coercion within parties under party democracy is recognized, each lawmaker's voting rights should be exercised according to their own conscience."

He emphasized, "The Democratic Party's rules stipulate disciplinary reasons for violating the party's official stance. If a lawmaker's voting behavior in the performance of duties that does not follow the party stance is included as a violation of the party stance and disciplined, it may conflict with the provisions of the Constitution and the National Assembly Act."

Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 3rd.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

He particularly stated, "This issue related to the disciplinary action against former lawmaker Geum is not limited to the individual's problem but is a very important constitutional issue about how far the conscience of lawmakers in the performance of their duties under party democracy is allowed."

He also requested, "I ask the party's Ethics Tribunal to deeply deliberate on the constitutional level when deciding on former lawmaker Geum's request for reconsideration."

Not only Kim but other lawmakers also expressed critical positions on the disciplinary action against former lawmaker Geum. Park Yong-jin, a lawmaker from the same party, appeared on Channel A's 'Kim Jin's Straight Talk Show' and criticized party leader Lee Hae-chan, who emphasized the justification for Geum's disciplinary action.

Park said, "Leader Lee said that forced party consensus must be enforced, but forced party consensus and recommended party consensus are not provisions stipulated in the party's rules and regulations," adding, "This issue is probably boiling in the minds of first-term lawmakers, so it should be discussed at the party caucus."

Park Won-seok, Policy Committee Chair of the Justice Party, also appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "Former lawmaker Geum was excluded from nomination and could not run in the election. The disciplinary decision, which is a political posthumous punishment, would be personally difficult for him to accept."

Former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Geum Tae-seop [Image source=Yonhap News]

Voices opposing the disciplinary action against former lawmaker Geum are also coming from the opposition. Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong wrote on his Facebook on the 2nd, "I was surprised to see the news that the Democratic Party disciplined former lawmaker Geum," and criticized, "The Democratic Party, which defended Cho Kuk and Yoon Mee-hyang, disciplined him for abstaining according to his conscience on the passage of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI) Act, which was sure to pass. Is this really acceptable?"

He continued, "The saying that there is no 'democracy' in the Democratic Party was true," and wrote, "The disciplinary action against former lawmaker Geum is a discipline against conscience and the people." He also said, "Not allowing dissent means not allowing democracy. If you want to continue to be called the Democratic Party, you must immediately withdraw the disciplinary action against former lawmaker Geum."

Governor Won said, "I also faced threats of expulsion for expressing opinions different from the party stance, and during the fight over the Private School Act, I was heavily criticized for criticizing Representative Park Geun-hye's fighting method," adding, "At that time, I wrote 'Nevertheless, the Earth revolves,' but I still cannot forget the loneliness I felt then."

He added, "Politics is about having the courage to criticize power and the courage to be criticized by supporters. It is because of people like former lawmaker Geum that today's Democratic Party exists."

Ha Tae-kyung, a lawmaker from the United Future Party, strongly criticized the Democratic Party, calling it "reckless tyranny."

On the 2nd, Ha wrote on Facebook, "The Democratic Party's behavior of insulting grandmother Lee Yong-soo and disciplining lawmaker Geum Tae-seop is increasingly resembling a monster," adding, "The Democratic Party's disciplinary action violates the 'National Assembly Act,' which guarantees the freedom of lawmakers' votes, and denies democracy." He also said, "The disciplinary action against Geum Tae-seop is also a threat that anyone criticizing Yoon Mee-hyang within the party will end up like Geum."

Earlier, on the 25th of last month, the Democratic Party's Ethics Tribunal issued a 'warning' to former lawmaker Geum for abstaining from the vote on the HOCI Act. The reason was that Geum's abstention in the December vote on the HOCI Act, ignoring the party's stance in favor of the bill, violated party regulations.

As the controversy over requests to withdraw the disciplinary action continued, party leader Lee Hae-chan said at a press conference on the 2nd, "Recommended party stances can be opposed while presenting one's own opinion, but forced party stances must be enforced," adding, "The warning from the Ethics Tribunal is the lowest level of disciplinary action."

Meanwhile, former lawmaker Geum strongly opposed his disciplinary action. In a post on his Facebook, he said, "I really did not expect a political party to do something similar to the prosecution," adding, "Regarding the Cho Kuk incident and the Yoon Mee-hyang incident, the party leadership imposed a gag order, and lawmakers do not say a word about the issues that the public is most interested in. Is this really normal?"

On the afternoon of the 2nd, former lawmaker Geum submitted a request for reconsideration to the Democratic Party's Ethics Tribunal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.