[News Terms] The 'Arrest Consent Bill' That Will Decide Lee Jae-myung's Fate

Submitted to the 21st National Assembly for the Ninth Time
The 17th Century English Statute 'Parliamentary Privilege Act' as the Origin

The 'arrest consent bill' refers to the procedure in which the court seeks the consent of the National Assembly to arrest a sitting member of the National Assembly despite the member's immunity from arrest.

According to Article 44 of the Constitution, members of the National Assembly enjoy 'immunity from arrest,' which means they cannot be arrested or detained without the consent of the Assembly during a session, except in cases of being caught in the act. To arrest or detain a member during a session, consent must be obtained from the Assembly. Even if a member is arrested or detained before a session and is not caught in the act, they must be released during the session upon the Assembly's request.

A Ministry of Justice official is submitting a request for the arrest approval of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, to the Legislative Affairs Office of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 21st. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Originally, the 'arrest consent bill' was established to protect members by preventing the king from arbitrarily detaining members and paralyzing the functions of the parliament, serving as a safeguard between royal authority and the legislature. In the 17th century, King James I of England, who first ruled over England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, attempted to dissolve the parliament by arresting and detaining its members during the reform process. Following this incident, the parliament enacted the 'Parliamentary Privilege Act,' which prohibited arbitrary arrest or detention of members. This became the origin of the current 'immunity from arrest' for members of the National Assembly.

However, recently, there has been criticism that the system is being abused as a tool to illegitimately protect members of the National Assembly who are under criminal suspicion, deviating from its original purpose.

On the morning of the 18th, the prosecution filed an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on suspicion of remittance to North Korea through Ssangbangwool and preferential treatment in the Baekhyeon-dong development project. On the same afternoon, the court sent the request for arrest consent to the prosecution, and President Yoon Suk-yeol approved the arrest consent bill via electronic approval. The Ministry of Justice submitted the arrest consent bill concerning Lee to the National Assembly on the 19th.

This is the second time an arrest consent bill has been filed against Lee, following the arrest warrant request in February related to the Wirye and Daejang-dong development corruption allegations and the Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations. At that time, the arrest consent bill was rejected with 139 votes in favor, 138 against, 9 abstentions, and 11 invalid votes out of 297 members present.

After receiving the arrest consent bill, the National Assembly must hold a secret ballot within 72 hours after 24 hours have passed since the Speaker of the National Assembly reported it to the plenary session. Therefore, the arrest consent bill concerning Lee is expected to be reported to the plenary session on the morning of the 20th and voted on in the afternoon of the 21st. Approval requires a majority of the total members present and a majority of those present voting in favor.

This is the ninth time since the 21st National Assembly that an arrest consent bill has been submitted. Previously, arrest consent bills for former Democratic Party member Jeong Jeong-sun, former independent member Lee Sang-jik, former People Power Party member Jeong Chan-min, and independent member Ha Young-je were approved, while bills concerning Lee Jae-myung, Democratic Party member Noh Woong-rae, and independent members Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man were rejected.

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