野 "Lee Sang-min Dismissal Proposal to Be Submitted Tomorrow" Ruling Party "Breaks Agreement on National Investigation"

Democrats to Propose Party Resolution on 30th
Park Hong-geun: "If Dismissal Recommendation Ignored, Impeachment Motion Will Be Pursued"
Joo Ho-young: "Refusal to Accept Presidential Election Results, Giant Opposition Showing Off Power
Declares Not to Meet Budget Deadline"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Oh Ju-yeon and Lee Hyun-joo] The Democratic Party of Korea has confirmed the motion to dismiss Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min as the party's official stance. The red light has been turned on for the Itaewon disaster parliamentary investigation, which the ruling and opposition parties had agreed to conduct by January 7 next year.

Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at the floor strategy meeting on the 29th, "We plan to submit the motion to dismiss Minister Lee after the party members' meeting this afternoon," adding, "If this is ignored, we will promptly push for an impeachment motion."

It is reported that there is little disagreement inside and outside the party regarding the adoption of the motion to dismiss Minister Lee as the party's official stance. Oh Young-hwan, the party's floor spokesperson, told reporters after the meeting, "We intend to pass the motion to dismiss Minister Lee as the party's official stance at today's party members' meeting." He explained, "Preparations are underway for all possible scenarios," and "If (President Yoon) rejects even the motion to dismiss, we are ready to promptly file an impeachment motion."

The Democratic Party plans to go through the consent procedure for the motion to dismiss at today's party members' meeting, officially propose the motion on the 30th, report it at the National Assembly plenary session on the 1st of next month, and then process it on the 2nd.

However, if the motion to dismiss Minister Lee is forcibly passed at the plenary session, the ‘Itaewon disaster parliamentary investigation,’ which was scheduled to be conducted after the budget bill is processed, is likely to be disrupted.

Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the floor strategy meeting on the same day, "December 1 and 2, when the motion to dismiss is to be processed, are the legal deadlines for budget processing as stipulated by the Constitution and laws. Saying that you will do this is essentially a declaration that you will not meet the legal deadline for budget processing." He continued, "Even though the political parties should be working together to solve this, they are breaking the agreement made just three days ago to conduct the parliamentary investigation after the budget is processed, and are holding the investigation responsible before it even concludes," adding, "The Democratic Party, which holds 169 seats, is ultimately showing defiance against the presidential election results, and it is nothing but an intention to prevent the People Power Party and President Yoon Seok-youl from succeeding, regardless of what happens to South Korea."

When asked by reporters after the meeting whether they would boycott the parliamentary investigation, Floor Leader Joo replied, "It seems the Democratic Party is breaking the spirit of the parliamentary investigation agreement," and said, "We will decide our party's stance gradually after seeing the Democratic Party's actions." The People Power Party plans to hold a closed senior members' meeting chaired by the floor leader in the afternoon as a countermeasure against the party members' meeting held by the Democratic Party regarding the motion to dismiss.

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