The Democratic Party Abruptly Withdraws Filibuster Including the Yellow Envelope Act to Block Impeachment of Lee Dong-gwan (Update)

Democratic Party "Will Request a Plenary Session to Impeach Lee Dong-gwan"

On the 9th, the People Power Party abruptly withdrew its unlimited debate (filibuster) on the Yellow Envelope Act (Amendment to the Labor Union and Labor Relations Act) and the Three Broadcasting Laws (Amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Agency Act, and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act).

Yoon Jae-ok, the floor leader of the People Power Party, told reporters during the plenary session that day, "The People Power Party has decided not to proceed with the filibuster." Yoon said, "We want to thoroughly inform the public about the four harmful laws and appeal to them, but please understand that we had no choice but to give up the filibuster to prevent the bad political intention of impeaching the Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission and thereby paralyzing the functions of the state agency, the KCC, for an extended period."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the current National Assembly Act, an impeachment motion must be processed within 72 hours after 24 hours have passed since it was reported to the plenary session. For the impeachment motion against Chairperson Lee to be processed, a plenary session must be held, but Yoon gave up the filibuster to prevent this from happening.

Yoon stated, "If the vote concludes normally today, the plenary session will end," adding, "Then, since a plenary session cannot be scheduled within 72 hours after 24 hours, the impeachment motion will be automatically discarded."

Considering that plenary sessions are not held on weekends, the filibuster was abandoned to block the vote on Chairperson Lee's impeachment motion. Had the filibuster proceeded, the impeachment motion against Chairperson Lee and others could have been voted on within the timeframe stipulated by the National Assembly Act.

The Democratic Party also submitted impeachment motions against prosecutors Son Jun-sung and Lee Jeong-seop on the same day. All these impeachment motions have been reported to the plenary session.

Hong Ik-pyo, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said after the plenary session, "We plan to request the Speaker of the National Assembly to hold a plenary session so that the impeachment motions we submitted can be processed within 72 hours." This means they intend to convene a plenary session even over the weekend to pass the impeachment motions against Chairperson Lee and others.

Meanwhile, as the People Power Party withdrew the filibuster and left the plenary hall, the Yellow Envelope Act and the Three Broadcasting Laws were passed solely by the opposition parties, including the Democratic Party.

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