Democrats issue warning to Gwak Sang-eon for 'prosecutor impeachment abstention'... Ambiguity over 'party line violation'

Gwak Sang-eon Abstains in 1 of 4 Prosecutor Impeachment Investigations
Hardline Party Members Hold 'Gwak Sang-eon Condemnation Rally'
Floor Deputy Representative Voluntarily Resigns... Party Issues Warning Measures

The Democratic Party of Korea announced that it has accepted the voluntary resignation of Representative Gwak Sang-eon (first-term, Jongno-gu, Seoul), who abstained from the party-line vote, from his position as deputy floor leader, and has decided to issue a warning at the party level, thereby concluding the matter for now.

After the policy coordination meeting on the morning of the 11th, floor spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung told reporters, "The party's position regarding Representative Gwak has been finalized," adding, "He voluntarily resigned from the deputy floor leader group due to the controversy caused unintentionally during the party-line voting process, and the party has decided to conclude the matter with just a warning." She noted, "Representative Gwak was also aware of the importance of the party line," and explained, "It was not due to any particular disagreement but rather a lack of understanding regarding the adoption of the party line." She added, "There was no other form of pressure or recommendation to resign."

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung paid respects at the Seoul National Cemetery on April 12 and greeted elected representative Kwak Sang-eon. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the afternoon of the 2nd, Representative Gwak abstained from voting on the motion to refer the impeachment proposal against four prosecutors to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee during the plenary session of the National Assembly. Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, who was investigated for the ‘Ssangyong North Korea remittance’ case, was among those targeted, with the ‘Daebyeon incident’ cited as grounds for impeachment. On the 5th, Representative Gwak explained in a statement, "I abstained because I thought the evidence was insufficient to judge for or against the impeachment based solely on the proposal explanation," but demands for his resignation as deputy floor leader surged, especially from the party’s hardline supporters. A protest rally was also held in front of his Jongno-gu district office. Consequently, Representative Gwak voluntarily resigned on the afternoon of the 10th.

However, whether Representative Gwak violated the Democratic Party’s party line is expected to be a subject of debate. On the 2nd, before the plenary session, the Democratic Party adopted the motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against the four prosecutors as the party line at a party members' meeting. Immediately after the meeting, the impeachment proposal, signed by all 170 party members, was submitted and automatically reported to the plenary session according to the National Assembly Act. The agenda put to a vote in the plenary session was the 'motion to agree to refer the prosecutors’ impeachment proposal to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.' After investigation in the committee and confirmation of appropriateness, the impeachment proposal will be resubmitted to the plenary session.

Representative Gwak’s side stated, "It is still difficult to say anything definitive," and "more time is needed." A Democratic Party official responded to a question about whether there was any attempt to dissuade Representative Gwak from resigning by saying, "Since he was part of the floor leadership, he needed a more precise understanding, but he admitted that this was somewhat lacking." The official added, "The floor has decided to settle this issue here."

The Democratic Party does not plan to elect an additional deputy floor leader to replace Representative Gwak.

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