August Special Session Ends '31st → 25th'... Ruling Party Calls It a "Session Cutting Trick" (Summary)

On the 24th, the plenary session approved the opposition-led revision of the August session schedule
People Power Party criticizes as "Bulletproof Professional Party"

The August extraordinary session of the National Assembly ends today, the 25th. Originally, the August extraordinary session was scheduled to be held for 16 days from the 16th to the 31st of this month, but the Democratic Party shortened the session end date to the 25th, so the August extraordinary session will be held for 10 days from the 16th to the 25th. The People Power Party criticized this as a ‘trick’ to block the vote on the arrest motion for Representative Lee Jae-myung, while the Democratic Party countered that it was a ‘matter agreed upon on the condition that the Yellow Envelope Act and the Broadcasting Act would not be brought up.’

The voting results on the amendment to the agenda for the National Assembly session were displayed at the plenary session held at the National Assembly on the 24th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

At the plenary session of the National Assembly held on the 24th, the Democratic Party proposed an amendment to bring forward the end date of the August extraordinary session to the 25th. The amendment was passed with 158 votes in favor, 91 against, and 2 abstentions.

Earlier, the prosecution had notified Representative Lee to appear on the ‘30th,’ but with the passage of the amendment to shorten the August session during the plenary session that day, Representative Lee will now appear before the prosecution during the ‘recess’ period as he had requested.

The People Power Party strongly opposed this ‘session splitting.’

Lee Yang-su, the senior deputy floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the plenary session that day, "The Democratic Party has convened extraordinary sessions of the National Assembly every month this year, continuing the sessions," and pointed out, "In February, the arrest motion for Representative Lee Jae-myung and in November last year, the arrest motion for Representative Noh Woong-rae were rejected, leading to criticism that they are a ‘shielding party.’" He emphasized, "Suddenly changing their stance to demand a recess and calling for the session to end is a trick to avoid the vote on the arrest motion tailored to the party leader’s request and merely a pretext to build justification for rejecting it later."

He also said, "The necessity and timing of the request for an arrest warrant for Representative Lee regarding various allegations, including the Baekhyun-dong incident and the Ssangbangwool illegal remittance to North Korea suspicion, should be judged by the investigative agencies," and added, "It is not something decided by the suspect’s demands that it cannot be at the end of September but must be at the end of August." He continued, "Regarding Article 5, Paragraph 2 of the National Assembly Act on the annual schedule of the National Assembly, the August extraordinary session is to be held within 16 days and the session period is until the end of the month," and criticized, "Ignoring the National Assembly Act and ending the session early is equivalent to Representative Lee demanding that the warrant be requested during the ‘recess.’"

Floor leader Yoon Jae-ok visited Speaker Kim Jin-pyo’s office in protest before the plenary session that day. Afterward, Yoon told reporters, "I protested that the Speaker unilaterally putting the session decision on the agenda and cooperating with the Democratic Party’s ‘session cutting’ breaks the long-standing tradition of the National Assembly, where sessions are decided through bipartisan agreement."

If an arrest warrant is requested during the session, the National Assembly votes on the arrest motion, but the Democratic Party is concerned that in this case, the party will again be divided into ‘pro-Lee’ and ‘anti-Lee’ factions over Representative Lee’s status, causing further conflict. During the vote on the arrest motion for Representative Lee in February, the ‘no’ votes reached 138, narrowly defeating the motion, but afterward, a controversy arose among the Democratic Party’s hardline members who sought to identify the lawmakers who voted ‘yes.’

For this reason, the Democratic Party insisted on ending the session on the 25th, considering the possibility that the prosecution might request an arrest warrant for Representative Lee. At the same time, they requested the prosecution to file the warrant during the ‘recess’ so that Representative Lee could undergo a substantive warrant hearing without a vote on the arrest motion.

On the previous day, floor leader Park Kwang-on said at the Supreme Council meeting, "The prosecution deliberately sending the arrest motion for Representative Lee during the regular session is a political act aimed at cornering the Democratic Party and dealing a blow," and criticized, "If the arrest motion is rejected, they attack the Democratic Party as a shield party, and if it is passed, they intend to politically damage the Democratic Party by causing division. The public already knows this is an attempt to create a ‘flower card’ in the game of Go."

Democratic Party senior deputy floor leader Song Ki-heon also asked at the plenary session that day, "Is it normal for the prosecution to investigate the leader of the main opposition party for several years?" He said, "I have been in the legal profession for over 30 years, but I have never seen an investigation dragged out like this. Even though Representative Lee gave up his immunity and said he would come forward to receive a substantive warrant hearing, the prosecution delayed the summons and warrant request for months. This shows the prosecution is trying to control the National Assembly."

After the statements by the senior deputy floor leaders of both parties, Speaker Kim Jin-pyo said, "Politics should be done at the level of the people, but with the livelihood already difficult, I am very worried that both the ruling and opposition parties relying only on tricks will further deteriorate the public’s trust in politics."

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