"21st Century Witch Hunt, Stay Strong!"... Yoon Mi-hyang's Husband Opposes 'Expulsion from Assembly' 추진

Independent lawmaker Yoon Mee-hyang.

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] As Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party, moves to push for the expulsion of lawmakers involved in corruption, including independent lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang, who is suspected of misusing donations from the Justice Memory Solidarity, Yoon’s husband has posted a message of support saying "Cheer up!" in protest.

Kim Sam-seok, Yoon’s husband, tagged Yoon’s account on Facebook on the 26th and wrote "Cheer up!" He then shared a post by a netizen criticizing Song Young-gil’s statement that he would swiftly process the expulsion of independent lawmakers Yoon Mi-hyang and Lee Sang-jik, as well as People Power Party lawmaker Park Deok-heum.

The post claimed, "Leader Song has lumped Yoon together with Lee Sang-jik, who committed mass layoffs of workers and embezzlement, and Park Deok-heum, who is involved in a comprehensive construction corruption scandal," adding, "All allegations against Yoon have been proven false over the past two years. This is a 21st-century witch hunt."

Photo by Kim Samseok, Facebook capture

Kim also criticized Song Young-gil last June when Yoon was expelled from the party over real estate speculation allegations, calling him "the Democratic Party leadership playing into a well-scripted plan like a poisoned arrow ahead of the presidential election."

Yoon has not made any particular statement. Just before Song announced his stance on expulsion, she promised, "As a member of the National Assembly, I will actively seek the roles I can play," and was carrying out duties such as site visits.

The National Assembly Ethics Special Committee held a plenary meeting on the 27th to submit and begin deliberations on disciplinary proposals against independent lawmakers Yoon Mi-hyang and Lee Sang-jik, as well as People Power Party lawmakers Park Deok-heum and Sung Il-jong.

If the expulsion proposals against Yoon Mi-hyang, Lee Sang-jik, and Park Deok-heum are approved by a majority vote at the Ethics Committee plenary meeting, they must then go through a vote in the plenary session. If passed in the plenary, it would be the first expulsion of a lawmaker since former President Kim Young-sam (then New Democratic Party leader) in 1979.

However, since the plenary requires approval by two-thirds of the total members, there is also a possibility that the disciplinary proposals may be rejected. The People Power Party boycotted the Ethics Committee meeting on that day, with four members of the committee excluding the whip, lawmaker Chu Kyung-ho, not attending, claiming the meeting was convened unilaterally.

Meanwhile, Yoon was indicted without detention in September 2020 on charges including violation of the Subsidy Management Act and Local Finance Act, fraud, violation of the Act on the Collection and Use of Donations, embezzlement in the course of duty, quasi-fraud, breach of trust in the course of duty, and violation of the Public Health Control Act.

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