Democratic Party Temporarily 'Pauses' Motion to Dismiss Lee Sang-min... Considering 'Direct Impeachment' and Other Options

29th Democratic Party Meeting
Park Hong-geun: "Agreement on Holding Lee Sang-min Accountable at the National Assembly Level"
Dismissal Recommendation on 30th, Report to Plenary Session on 1st, Vote on 2nd at a Crossroads
"Immediate Impeachment Request Raises a Point of Concern"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending a party meeting held at the National Assembly on the 29th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] The Democratic Party of Korea on the 29th temporarily halted its plan to submit a motion to dismiss Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, holding him responsible for the Itaewon tragedy and other incidents. During the party caucus meeting, voices were raised suggesting that, considering the presidential office had already expressed its intention to reject the dismissal motion which had not even been proposed yet, the party should immediately resort to the impeachment motion.

On the day, Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said after the caucus meeting held at the National Assembly, "We reached a consensus in the caucus to hold Minister Lee accountable at the parliamentary level as the overall person responsible for disaster safety related to the Itaewon tragedy," adding, "We have delegated the form, method, and timing of holding him accountable to the floor leadership. We have reviewed this over the past couple of days and will determine an appropriate timing and method comprehensively considering the presidential office, the ruling party, and the National Assembly schedule."

Originally, the Democratic Party planned to adopt the dismissal motion as the party’s official stance through the caucus meeting on the same day, submit it to the National Assembly on the 30th, report the dismissal motion on the 1st, and proceed with the vote on the 2nd. However, this plan was changed to a vague delegation to the floor leadership.

Regarding this, Oh Young-hwan, the Democratic Party’s floor spokesperson, explained, "We have not yet proposed the motion. We only hinted at proposing the dismissal motion strongly in response to the desperate pleas of many bereaved families and the public’s demand to dismiss the minister. However, a senior official from the presidential office expressed displeasure and showed an intention to immediately reject it. There was an opinion questioning whether it is appropriate or meaningful to propose the dismissal motion as scheduled under these circumstances," adding, "Therefore, we thought a decision was necessary, so we decided to leave the method and timing to the judgment of the opposition floor leadership."

When asked by reporters whether the submission of the dismissal motion was postponed, spokesperson Oh said, "If even the dismissal motion is rejected, we are also reviewing the impeachment motion, so this is a comprehensive delegation including review." Regarding the response method such as submitting the dismissal motion, he said, "There was no opposition," and explained, "There was a strong demand to immediately move to the impeachment motion, so this created a point of consideration."

Regarding the budget bill process, he said, "Tomorrow marks the legal deadline for the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, but through an agreement between the floor leaders of both parties, there is a possibility to extend the review period of the Budget Committee itself or to discuss the subsequent process. Some discussions may be held between the floor leaders, and some may involve forming a consultative body similar to the past small subcommittee," adding, "If the attitude of trying to paralyze and disrupt the Budget Committee continues as before, and if the ruling party’s strategic behavior of judging that going with a quasi-budget is advantageous repeats, the opposition will inevitably have to prepare an amendment focused on cuts. We shared various concerns about this during the procedure."

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