South Korea: Opposition-led National Assembly passes special bill to probe Marine’s death

On Thursday, the opposition-led National Assembly passed a special bill to launch an inquiry into allegations that the Yoon Suk Yeol government misused its authority to obstruct an investigation into the demise of a young Marine in the previous year.

All 168 of the 296 members currently in the single-chamber National Assembly cast ballots in favour of passing the bill, which aims to investigate allegations that the Yoon administration pressured an investigator to drop charges against a division commander in connection with the death of Marine Cpl. Chae Su-geun.

In July of last year, Chae was washed away during a search and rescue effort in a flooded creek; he was not wearing any safety gear at the time.

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With the exception of one, every lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party boycotted the move and left the afternoon plenary session, where the vote was held.

The brief spirit of reconciliation between Yoon and the opposing parties—which had resulted from the president and key opposition leader Lee Jae-myung’s first-ever meeting on Monday—was dashed by the opposition’s move to pass the bill.

Referred to as a political ploy, the opposition’s plan to approve the investigation bill into the marine’s death was condemned by the ruling party and the presidential office.

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The president’s new chief of staff, Chung Jin-suk, announced at a briefing that they deeply regretted the Democratic Party of Korea’s (major opposition) decision to pursue the special investigation bill on Marine Cpl. Chae’s death in a unilateral manner.

He also added that the Democratic Party’s move to pass the bill was an example of bad politics in which they were trying to use the tragic death of Marine Cpl. Chae for political gain.

The interim chairman of the governing party, Yun Jae-ok, stated that he intended to formally ask Yoon to use his veto authority over the controversial probe bill and declined to work with the opposition in the near future.

After the MPs from the governing party departed the plenary session, Yun spoke at a news conference. “We believe we can only ask President Yoon to exercise his veto power considering the legislative process (shown today) and the details of the (contentious) bill,” Yun stated.

In a rare instance of bipartisan collaboration, the opposing parties earlier in the same plenary session enacted a watered-down version of a special inquiry law that launches a fresh investigation into the Itaewon crowd crush catastrophe on October 29, 2022.

256 of the 259 Assembly members who took part in the vote supported the bill’s passage, which aims to establish an impartial inquiry panel into the catastrophe that left 159 people dead. Three governing party MPs chose to abstain from voting.

President Yoon first rejected the earlier version of the law on January 30, following its passage on January 9 by the opposition-led parliament, which saw the ruling People Power Party abstain from voting.

After Yoon and Lee met for the first time in person, the opposing sides decided to compromise on some of the provisions’ specifics in order to reach a compromise, which resulted in the revised law.

A significant departure from the original draft of the bill was the removal of provisions granting the panel access to a number of secret court records related to the Itaewon tragedy investigations, as well as the authority to ask prosecutors for a warrant in the event that the panel’s request for these records is denied twice.

Additionally, the panel’s membership was reduced from its original eleven members to nine. The Assembly Speaker will also choose the members from among the candidates recommended by the opposing parties; in the previous iteration, nominees nominated by the relatives of the victims of the disaster were also included.

The panel will be operational for one year from its launch, with the option to extend it once for up to three months.