Assembly rejects motion for opposition leader’s arrest in narrow vote

Democratic Party of Korea leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung avoided facing an arrest warrant by a close margin in a National Assembly vote on Monday, despite earlier pledges from the party that the motion will be defeated by “an overwhelming majority.”

The motion to allow a judge to consider an arrest warrant for Lee, submitted to the National Assembly last week by the Seoul Central District Court, was rejected in an anonymous vote. The vote split 139 in favor to 138 against, failing to meet the threshold of 149 votes needed to pass the motion. Nine votes were abstentions and 11 were considered invalid.

The thin margin in Monday’s vote comes as a shock as high-ranking Democratic Party figures have consistently said the motion would fail to pass the National Assembly “by a landslide.”

A senior Democratic Party official told The Korea Herald in a phone call that the vote count was reflective of Lee’s “slipping grip on the party.”

“It’s shocking. More Democratic Party lawmakers have voted in favor of the arrest warrant motion than the last time,” he said, referring to Rep. Noh Woong-rae, another Democratic Party lawmaker who had an arrest warrant filed after him two months ago. The motion for Noh’s arrest warrant at the time was voted down by a greater margin of 161 to 101.

“This may be where Lee truly stands among Democratic Party lawmakers. If prosecutors decide to send another arrest warrant Lee’s way for a second time, it would be difficult to rally support from within his own party.”

Youn Tae-gon, a political analyst who served as an adviser for then-candidate Ahn Cheol-soo in the 2012 presidential race, said in a phone call with The Korea Herald that Monday’s vote came at a time when Democratic Party lawmakers are forced to think about their chances in the next election.

“Democratic Party lawmakers likely had next year’s general election in mind when they were casting their ballots. They were probably weighing if having someone like Lee, who is facing mounting legal problems, as the leader would going to work out in the party’s favor,” he said.

Lee Jun-han, a political science professor at Incheon National University, said the voting results were the Democratic Party leader’s “political defeat.”

“The margin is much narrower than what was projected earlier,” he said. “What Lee takes away from this is even among Democratic Party lawmakers, support is waning.”

Monday’s plenary session was attended by all of 169 Democratic Party lawmakers, and 114 ruling People Power Party lawmakers.

Ahead of the voting, Lee once again denied any wrongdoing, saying that all of the accusations brought against him so far were “political” and “made up.”

“The move to arrest the leader of the largest opposition party is a clear threat to democracy,” he said in an address to fellow National Assembly members at the plenary session.

“This day will go down in history as the day the rule of law collapsed.”

Also speaking at the plenary session, Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon made the case for passing the motion, saying, Lee “must appear before court as would any other ordinary South Korean in a same situation.”

He said that over the past year, the court has already issued arrest warrants for four of the key accused, including a key Lee aide, and that several more have been indicted in the same criminal cases involving the Democratic Party leader.

“The basis for the arrests and indictments for many of the accomplices has already been established in court,” he said.

“There is no grounds for the Democratic Party to continue to claim that all of the emerging evidence are fabricated.”

Prosecutors have sought to arrest Lee over corruption controversies dating to his tenure as the mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province and as Gyeonggi governor, more specifically from 2013 to 2018.

In the arrest warrant application, prosecutors said Lee, while heading the municipal offices, allowed close associates and private developers to together pocket some 788 billion won ($596 million) in profit from a public real estate project.

Prosecutors also said Lee received at least 13.3 billion won under the pretext of sponsorships from companies for a soccer team owned by Seongnam and gave them favors such as changing building permits or land use in exchange.

These accusations together amount to violations of the laws on prevention of conflicts of interest by public officials, anti-corruption, special economic crimes and concealment of criminal proceeds, the prosecutors said.

Under the Constitution, lawmakers are immune from criminal detention or arrest without National Assembly approval. A judge must obtain majority consent of the National Assembly before issuing an arrest warrant for a lawmaker, according to the National Assembly Act.

Other opposition parties including the progressive Justice Party called on Lee to waive his immunity from arrest, as he had pledged to as the Democratic Party candidate in the presidential election last year.

Cho Sang-ho, deputy head of the Democratic Party’s legal affairs committee, told The Korea Herald on Sunday that the immunity was Lee’s “constitutional right.”

“This immunity is guaranteed by the Constitution to protect political oppositions in instances of oppression that we are witnessing right now.”

While the Democratic Party’s own bylaws say lawmakers under investigation for corruption-related criminal accusations are to be suspended, the party leaders have said that Lee would be exempt.

“There is no question in the case of Chairperson Lee, the ongoing investigations constitute opposition oppression. He was President Yoon’s opponent in the last presidential election, and this is clearly an attempt to remove a political adversary,” the party’s Secretary-General Cho said.

Leaving the plenary session, Lee told reporters, “Today the National Assembly has shown prosecutors that they were wrong to ask for my arrest warrant.”

He added that he would be “working more with fellow Democratic Party lawmakers to stand up against Yoon Suk Yeol dictatorship.”

Seoul central district prosecutors’ office said in a statement that “in light of the seriousness of the crime” it was “regrettable” that the arrest warrant process could not proceed as a result of the National Assembly rejection.

They added that a “complementary investigation will be carried out to get to the full truth.”