Report on Lee's Arrest Approval to the Plenary Session... 'March Bulletproof Parliament' Controversy

March Extraordinary National Assembly, Ruling Party "6 days" vs Opposition "1 day"
Joo Ho-young "Seems too anxious to leave even for a day"
Park Hong-geun "Yoon's political warrant, 'black tyranny'"

On the afternoon of the 24th, as the report on the arrest motion for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was scheduled to be presented at the National Assembly plenary session, the ruling and opposition parties engaged in a power struggle over the start date of the "March extraordinary session" from the morning. Both parties agreed on holding the March extraordinary session, but clashed over the start date, with the Democratic Party insisting on the 1st and the People Power Party advocating for the 6th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the morning floor strategy meeting, "We submitted a convening request yesterday to open the March extraordinary session starting from March 6."

Regarding the Democratic Party's claim to start on the 1st, Floor Leader Joo said, "The 1st is a national holiday, and there are holidays following it," adding, "Even when looking back at the March extraordinary sessions since the Constituent Assembly, it has never started on the 1st. (The Democratic Party and Leader Lee) seem too anxious to take even one day off." The People Power Party argues that the Democratic Party's insistence on convening the National Assembly on the holiday of March 1st is an attempt to maintain Leader Lee's immunity from arrest by not allowing any gap between sessions.

Floor Leader Joo criticized, "Even if the National Assembly Act stipulates that the session should start at the beginning of the month, if the 1st is a holiday, the Assembly should not convene. The insistence on starting from the 1st clearly reveals the Democratic Party's vulnerabilities," and added, "(The Democratic Party) says it cannot give up immunity from arrest, but if there is no session, there is nothing to give up or not." He explained that Leader Lee could undergo a warrant review during the gap between sessions before the extraordinary session opens.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Democratic Party maintained its position to open the extraordinary session on the 1st. As planned, the Democratic Party is expected to submit a convening request for the March extraordinary session starting on March 1. They argue this is a normal procedure under the "Working National Assembly Act" and not an exceptional case, and rather accuse the ruling party of portraying them as trying to shield Leader Lee.

The Democratic Party anticipates that the arrest motion against Leader Lee, to be voted on the 27th, will be rejected. On the day the motion is reported to the plenary session, Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at the morning supreme council meeting, "Democratic Party members, who have already reached a consensus that the arrest warrant request is very unjust, will remain composed and resolute until the vote," emphasizing the likelihood of rejection.

Floor Leader Park criticized, "Leader Lee cooperated with summons investigations three times, knowing it was a trap set by the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecutor dictatorship. Meanwhile, the Yoon prosecution searched Leader Lee's surroundings like catching rats and conducted hundreds of raids but failed to present any concrete evidence," adding, "The 'political warrant' requested by Prosecutor Yoon on insulting grounds such as 'evidence destruction' and 'flight risk' against the leader of the main opposition party will be shamefully recorded in Korean history as the 'black tyranny' of the prosecutor dictatorship." This statement underscores the inevitability of the motion's rejection and partially alleviates concerns about potential accusations of shielding after the rejection.

The arrest motion for Leader Lee will be reported at the plenary session in the afternoon and then voted on at the plenary session scheduled for the 27th. Since the Democratic Party decided on a free vote rather than a party line, all members are expected to vote anonymously and freely.

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