Assembly passes motion urging lawmaker's expulsion for event that allegedly slandered democratic movement
The resolution, which passed with 157 votes in favor, came after People Power Party Rep. Lee Jin-sook organized an event during which she reportedly described the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement as a "10-day riot."
People Power Party Rep. Lee Jin-sook leaves a chamber at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Aug. 26.JANG JIN-YOUNG
The National Assembly passed a motion urging the expulsion of People Power Party Rep. Lee Jin-sook after she organized an event that allegedly depreciated the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement as a “10-day riot.”
The resolution passed with 157 votes in favor on Wednesday. One member voted against it, and another abstained. The motion is not legally binding but rather a political resolution urging her removal from the National Assembly.
The motion came in response to a seminar that Lee hosted on Aug. 13, during which she characterized the 1980 uprising as a “riot.” Speakers at the seminar also reportedly denied that the military brutally cracked down on protesters, despite state investigations concluding that hundreds of civilians were killed or injured by military forces.
A total of 161 liberal lawmakers jointly proposed the motion on Aug. 14. Ruling Democratic Party (DP) floor leader Cheon Jun-ho was among the signatories.
The Assembly’s House Steering Committee approved the resolution on Tuesday, with unanimous support from the 17 DP lawmakers present. The resolution was then sent to Wednesday’s plenary session.
Rep. Lee exchanged a spat with DP lawmakers as she left the chamber before the secret ballot vote began that afternoon.
“If you get on the wrong side of the president and the ruling party, the parliament can now effectively remove [you] from office,” she said in response to liberal lawmakers’ demands. “Just as North Korea’s Workers’ Party of Korea maintains one-party rule, the [South’s] National Assembly has become a DP dictatorship.”
On Wednesday, DP leader and former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok even suggested that party members refer to Lee as “the female Chun Doo Hwan,” the military dictator who led the violent military response to the democratic movement.
Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, left, chats with Rep. Jung Chung-rae during a plenary session at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Aug. 26.NEWS1
He had previously referred to her as “the female Chun Doo Hwan” and “the female Hitler” during his campaign for party leadership earlier in the month. Lee filed a formal complaint against him on Monday for defamation for calling her “the female Hitler.”
“Apparently, she has no problem with being called ‘the female Chun Doo Hwan,’” Kim said on Wednesday. “I also hope that the Assembly quickly passes a bill that allows a lawmaker to be suspended for up to a year if a majority votes in favor of that in a plenary session.”
DP Rep. Lee Yong-woo proposed an amendment to the National Assembly Act on Aug. 14, which would allow lawmakers to be suspended for up to one year for disparaging democratic movements, namely the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.
The National Assembly also passed 36 bills on Wednesday.
An amendment to the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with Climate Crisis passed 174-15, with 15 abstentions. In August 2024, the Constitutional Court ruled that parts of the law, designed to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, were unconstitutional.
“We have exceeded the Constitutional Court’s six-month deadline for revising the law, but today, we have finally fulfilled our responsibility to future generations,” National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik said.
Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, left, chats with Rep. Choi Min-hee during a plenary session at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Aug. 26.NEWS1
Two other bills were left off the plenary agenda after the ruling and opposition parties failed to reach an agreement.
One concerned the development of a former U.S. military garrison site within what is now Yongsan Park, and the other seeks to shorten the timeline for redevelopment and reconstruction projects.
During the plenary session, Kim and former party leader Rep. Jung Chung-rae were also seen sitting together and discussing the flood damage in Geoje, South Gyeongsang. Cameras captured a notebook that Kim was holding, with “Geoje, Jung Chung-rae, expensive agricultural machinery, damage situation” written on it.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
