The Democratic Party to Recommend Veto on Yellow Envelope Act and Broadcasting Act... "Disastrous and Evil Laws"

Jang Dong-hyuk "Democratic Party's Re-promotion Violates National Assembly Act"

The People Power Party plans to request President Yoon Suk-yeol's veto (reconsideration request) on the Yellow Envelope Act and the three broadcasting laws, which passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 9th. They pointed out that the Democratic Party's attempt to withdraw and then re-pursue the impeachment motion against Broadcasting and Communications Commissioner Lee Dong-gwan violates the National Assembly Act.

On the morning of the same day, Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, held a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly and said, "It is with a heavy heart that we must recommend the exercise of the president's reconsideration request right," adding, "Although it is undoubtedly a difficult political decision for the president to exercise the reconsideration request right, I believe many citizens share the view that this bill must be repealed."

However, the timing of requesting the reconsideration right is still being weighed. After the meeting, Yoon told reporters, "As you have seen with the Nursing Act and the Grain Management Act, after discussion at the Cabinet meeting, the relevant government departments recommend the reconsideration request right to the president," and "We plan to recommend the party's position at an appropriate time."

Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the floor countermeasure meeting held at the National Assembly on the 10th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Yoon Jae-ok viewed the Democratic Party's forcible passage of the Yellow Envelope Act and the three broadcasting laws as aimed at next year's general election. He said, "The amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Union Act (Yellow Envelope Act) can be called a disastrous evil law that will cause the collapse of our economy," adding, "The Democratic Party delayed these problematic bills throughout the previous administration because they knew the serious adverse effects on the economy. Passing them now can only be seen as an attempt to join hands with labor unions ahead of the general election."

He continued, "The amendments to the three broadcasting laws are election-related transactional bills by the Democratic Party, which provides the right to recommend directors of public broadcasting to left-leaning professional and academic organizations to receive help through news and current affairs programs during elections," and said, "No matter how much you search constitutional history, it is hard to find a case where election transactions between political parties and ideological groups have been legalized so blatantly."

The People Power Party also criticized the Democratic Party's push for a vote on the impeachment motion against Broadcasting and Communications Commissioner Lee Dong-gwan as a 'violation of the National Assembly Act.' According to the current National Assembly Act, impeachment motions must be processed within 72 hours after being reported to the plenary session, following a 24-hour waiting period. To block this, the People Power Party withdrew the filibuster the day before, and as a result, only the bills were processed before the plenary session ended. Since convening a plenary session requires agreement between the ruling and opposition parties and must be announced three days in advance, it is difficult to hold a plenary session within 72 hours. The claim is that re-pursuing the discarded impeachment motion at the plenary session scheduled for the end of this month violates the 'principle of non bis in idem,' which states that a rejected agenda cannot be reintroduced within the same session.

Jang Dong-hyuk, the floor spokesperson, said at the meeting, "Article 90, Paragraph 2 of the National Assembly Act stipulates that bills that have become agenda items in the plenary session require the plenary's consent. Impeachment motions gain certain legal effects the moment they are reported," adding, "Unlike arrest consent motions, impeachment motions are automatically discarded after 72 hours, so they should be considered agenda items the moment they are reported."

On the other hand, the Democratic Party maintains that since the impeachment motion has not yet been discarded and no vote has taken place, they intend to withdraw and then reintroduce it.

Regarding this, Jang said, "The Democratic Party claims it will withdraw the impeachment motion without a separate consent procedure in the plenary session, but I clearly state that withdrawal without consent is legally invalid," adding, "The principle of non bis in idem is the foundation of parliamentary democracy. If the fundamental principle is shaken to pass an unreasonable impeachment motion by any means, it will remain a stain in history."

Meanwhile, the People Power Party announced that it will conduct the withdrawn filibuster online. Kim Seong-won, head of the Yeouido Research Institute, said at the floor strategy meeting that morning, "Since many lawmakers prepared to expose the unfairness of the Yellow Envelope Act and the three broadcasting laws, we plan to hold a filibuster for public reporting," adding, "It will be conducted through the party's YouTube channel, Oreun Sori." The online filibuster will be conducted with the 60 lawmakers who were originally scheduled to participate, along with additional applicants.

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