Opposition Strongly Protests Speaker Kim Jin-pyo at the Plenary Session Opening for Lee Dong-gwan's Impeachment

Sit-in Protest Before Plenary Session Opening
Overnight Sit-in Protest

Members of the People Power Party strongly opposed by holding a protest sit-in in front of the Speaker's office on the 30th, protesting the convening of the plenary session. They demanded Speaker Kim Jin-pyo not to open the plenary session in response to the Democratic Party's plan to process the impeachment motion against Broadcasting and Communications Commissioner Lee Dong-gwan. The People Power Party plans to continue an overnight sit-in to block the convening of the plenary session scheduled for the 1st of next month, when the impeachment vote is expected to take place.

On the afternoon of the same day, People Power Party members convened a party meeting ahead of the plenary session and then moved in full attendance to the corridor in front of the Speaker's office to protest. First- and second-term lawmakers sat in the corridor holding placards reading "Resign the biased Speaker of the National Assembly" and shouted slogans, while senior lawmakers with four or more terms, along with floor leader Yoon Jae-ok and other leadership members, entered the Speaker's office to directly protest to Speaker Kim. Despite the protests, the plenary session was held, and the impeachment motions against Commissioner Lee and prosecutors Son Jun-sung and Lee Jeong-seop were reported. After the plenary session, the People Power Party held a "Speaker Resignation Demand and Condemnation of Parliamentary Violence Rally." The party plans to hold an overnight sit-in in front of the plenary hall from the evening until the next morning.

On the 30th, Kim Ki-hyun, leader of the People Power Party, along with ruling party lawmakers, held a rally in front of the main building stairs of the National Assembly, urging the resignation of the Speaker and condemning the parliamentary outrage. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

In response to the announcement of the plenary session schedule, the People Power Party deliberated from the morning to prepare countermeasures. Floor leader Yoon held a closed emergency meeting with senior lawmakers to discuss response plans. After the joint meeting, Yoon stated, "The majority of senior lawmakers agreed that such unprecedented violence in constitutional history cannot be overlooked and that we must stop parliamentary violence together with the people." Regarding the plenary session response, the People Power Party held a party meeting to finalize the schedule, including a protest visit to the Speaker's office before the session, a sit-in protest, a condemnation rally in the Rotunda Hall, and an overnight sit-in. Although the party initially discussed ideas such as occupying the Speaker's office, they lowered the response level to rallies and protests. Earlier, Democratic Party floor leader Hong Ik-pyo warned that occupying the Speaker's office could lead to "criminal punishment." In response, Floor Leader Yoon criticized this reaction, saying, "Follow the National Assembly Act."

Regarding the plenary session, both ruling and opposition parties engaged in verbal disputes throughout the day. The People Power Party argues that the plenary sessions scheduled for the day and December 1st are provisional schedules prepared for the budget agreement and that the session cannot be convened solely to process the impeachment motion without the budget being passed. On the other hand, the Democratic Party emphasized that there was no plenary session originally based on the budget agreement and that the schedule was decided according to bipartisan agreement.

After meeting with the Speaker, Floor Leader Yoon told reporters, "There was strong protest from senior lawmakers that the (National Assembly) operation is biased," adding, "Therefore, we told them to cancel the plenary session scheduled for tomorrow to vote on the impeachment motion because we cannot accept it."

Members of the People Power Party are staging a sit-in protest in front of the Speaker's office on the 30th ahead of the plenary session. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Lawmakers participating in the protest shouted, "Stay strong, Floor Leader Yoon Jae-ok," and "Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, this is too much. You don't need to continue as a lawmaker, so why are you doing this?" When Speaker Kim stepped outside the Speaker's office to move to the plenary hall, they shouted, "Resign."

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