Law, Detention Warrants for Yoon Gwansuk and Lee Seongman Rejected "Arrest Consent Motion Rejected in National Assembly"

The court dismissed the prosecution's request for arrest warrants against independent lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man, as the National Assembly rejected the motion for consent to arrest.

Independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok is greeting fellow lawmakers while attending the plenary session held at the National Assembly on May 30. At the bottom of the photo is Independent lawmaker Lee Seong-man. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the morning of the 15th, Lee Min-soo, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, stated, "The motion for consent to arrest a sitting lawmaker during the session was rejected," and dismissed the warrants requested by the prosecution for the two lawmakers. When a sitting member of the National Assembly is involved, the court can only hold a pre-arrest suspect hearing (warrant examination) if the National Assembly passes the motion for consent to arrest.

Previously, the prosecution requested arrest warrants for the two lawmakers last month, and the motion was put to a vote in the National Assembly on the 12th. However, the motion for consent to arrest Lawmaker Yoon was rejected with 139 votes in favor, 145 against, and 9 abstentions out of 293 members present. The motion for Lawmaker Lee was also rejected with 132 votes in favor, 155 against, and 6 abstentions out of 293 members present.

Lawmaker Yoon is accused of conspiring with former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil, former Korea Water Resources Corporation Standing Auditor Kang Rae-gu, and others to distribute a total of 60 million won to incumbent Democratic Party lawmakers to support Song's election ahead of the party convention at the end of April 2021.

Lawmaker Lee is accused of providing 1 million won to former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jeong-geun in March 2021 for primary campaign operating expenses and 10 million won in cash to former auditor Kang and others for regional headquarters chiefs to support Song's election.

Both Lawmakers Yoon and Lee voluntarily left the Democratic Party early last month as the envelope money allegations spread.

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon claimed that about 20 Democratic Party lawmakers are suspected of receiving envelope money. The prosecution plans to summon and investigate incumbent lawmakers who received the envelope money, including Lawmaker Lee, as soon as they are identified.

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