297 People Gathered at the 'Lee Jae-myung Arrest Motion' Vote Scene... Clash of Informal Speech and Shouting Amid 'Invalid Vote' Dispute

The National Assembly Plenary Hall Filled with Ruling and Opposition Lawmakers
"Arrest Kim Geon-hee" vs "Detain Lee Jae-myung"

On the afternoon of the 27th, the plenary session of the National Assembly held to vote on the arrest consent bill for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was fully occupied with 297 out of 300 members present. Only Jeong Chan-min of the People Power Party, who was detained on charges of bribery involving a third party, and Kim Hong-gul, an independent lawmaker, were absent.

The plenary session was filled with tension from the start. Before the vote, lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea pointed out Lee's charges in detail through the explanation of the arrest consent request by Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, and Lee strongly refuted in his personal statement, saying, "The charges in the warrant are truly groundless." During this process, Democratic Party lawmakers shouted, "Arrest Mrs. Kim Geon-hee as well," and "Investigate Mrs. Kim first." In response, People Power Party lawmakers retorted, "Stop talking about Mrs. Kim."

As the vote on the arrest consent bill took place, the tension in the chamber escalated. Lee appeared to show composure, smiling and even conversing with lawmakers.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The atmosphere changed after the vote counting began. A controversy over 'invalid ballots' arose among the vote-counting committee members. After more than 20 minutes of opening the ballot box without a conclusion, sharp exchanges between ruling and opposition party lawmakers ensued.

Ruling party lawmakers insisted that both disputed ballots be treated as invalid, while opposition lawmakers opposed, demanding the procedure be followed. Kim Hyung-dong of the People Power Party shouted, "(The disputed ballots) should all be invalid." In response, Lee Soo-jin of the Democratic Party (proportional representation) countered, "Those who are not vote counters should leave." Ruling party lawmakers including Bae Hyun-jin raised their voices, saying, "Why not just make everything public?" As voices rose on both sides, a 'casual speech dispute' broke out with calls of "Don't speak informally."

After over 40 minutes of counting, the vote counters placed the two disputed ballots on the podium and began a serious discussion. As disagreements continued between the floor leaders of both parties and the vote counters, Speaker Kim Jin-pyo intervened, saying, "Let's exclude the two ballots for now and proceed with counting the rest," adding, "If the outcome cannot be decided because of these two ballots, then the vote should be suspended and a legal procedure should be followed to determine whether the two ballots are invalid or rejection votes."

During this process, as news spread that more votes in favor than expected had been cast, the previously warm atmosphere in the Democratic Party seats suddenly turned cold. Democratic Party supporters in blue seated in the gallery murmured, "If they are invalid ballots, do they get excluded from the count?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

After about 1 hour and 20 minutes since the start of counting, Speaker Kim concluded that one of the disputed ballots was invalid and the other was a rejection vote. Thus, the arrest consent bill for Lee was rejected with 139 votes in favor, 138 against, 11 invalid votes, and 9 abstentions.

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