이재명 체포동의안 부결 민주당서 무더기 이탈표 나온 듯
Good evening. It's 9:00 PM here in South Korea. Thank you for joining us on Arirang News.
We begin with news that's been one of the hottest issues at the country's National Assembly for weeks.
The nation's parliament today held a vote on whether to arrest Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition party, on allegations of corruption.
The motion was narrowly rejected though after some chaos in the vote-counting process.
Our National Assembly correspondent Han Seong-woo has the details.
South Korea's National Assembly, after a considerable delay due to vote counting complications, has rejected the motion seeking parliamentary consent for arresting Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Lee Jae-myung.
In an anonymous vote during Monday's plenary session, 139 out of 297 lawmakers present voted for the motion while 138 voted against.
There were also nine abstentions and eleven invalid votes.
Two particular votes caused confusion after the Assembly couldn't firmly establish whether they were votes against the motion or invalid votes.
In the end, after discussions with the ruling People Power Party and the Democratic Party, Speaker of the Assembly Kim Jin-pyo announced that one would be counted as a vote against the motion and the other an invalid vote.
"Keep quiet please! The matter's already been discussed with the floor leaders and those supervising the vote count."
The Democratic Party holds 169 out of 299 seats in parliament and while parliament is in session, prosecutors had required by law a majority of registered lawmakers to be present when the motion was put to a vote and a majority of those lawmakers in attendance to approve it meaning 149 votes for the motion were needed on Monday for it to be passed.
The result comes less than two weeks after the prosecution requested an arrest warrant for Lee on allegations of corruption linked to property development projects launched when he was mayor of Seongnam City and third-party bribery involving Seongnam Football Club.
It was the first time in the nation's constitutional history that prosecutors had sought such a warrant for the sitting leader of a main opposition party.
Despite the prosecution failing to win parliamentary consent, it's widely expected they will indict the opposition leader without detaining him or request another arrest warrant after further investigation into other matters.
Meanwhile, Monday's meeting also saw legislators pass a government reorganization plan that includes the launch of a new agency under the foreign ministry devoted to consular affairs dealing specifically with the lives and interests of Koreans overseas.
The revision will also see the nation's Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs upgraded to a Cabinet-level government body.
Han Seong-woo, Arirang News.
#NationalAssembly #DemocraticParty #LeeJaemyung #politics #이재명 #정치 #Arirang_News
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2023-02-27, 21:00 (KST)
