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DP railroads bills for insurrection tribunal, punitive damages for 'false' information

Published: 23 Dec. 2025, 19:25 Updated: 23 Dec. 2025, 22:01

A special bill on establishing dedicated tribunals in connection with former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration is passed after an all-night filibuster during a plenary session of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Dec. 23. [LIM HYUN-DONG]

A bill to establish special tribunals to try former President Yoon Suk Yeol on multiple charges, including insurrection, passed the National Assembly on Tuesday, driven through the plenary session by the Democratic Party (DP). The vote came after lawmakers forcibly ended what was the longest filibuster ever staged by the leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).

The bill — the Korean title of which is the Special Act on Criminal Procedures for Crimes Such as Insurrection, Foreign Collusion and Rebellion — was passed with 175 votes in favor, two against and two abstentions out of 179 lawmakers present.

Reps. Chun Ha-ram and Lee Ju-young of the minor conservative Reform Party voted against the bill, while DP Rep. Park Ju-min and independent Rep. Choi Hyuck-jin abstained. Lawmakers of the PPP boycotted the vote.

Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the PPP, who had led a 24-hour filibuster which began on Monday, left the chamber and said, “If the president truly has the will to uphold the Constitution, he must exercise the right to request reconsideration even if this bill passes.”

The likelihood of a presidential veto, however, appears slim. The bill to create the special insurrection tribunal was first publicly raised by DP members of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Aug. 27, after a court turned down a detention warrant for former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

Momentum for the legislation solidified after President Lee Jae Myung, at a news conference marking his first 100 days in office on Sept. 11, publicly backed the bill for the tribunal, saying, “Why would that be unconstitutional?”

Amid controversy over its constitutionality, the DP leadership revised the bill repeatedly up until just before it was put to a vote. The final version mandates the establishment of at least two special insurrection trial panels each at the Seoul Central District Court and the Seoul High Court. It also calls for the appointment of at least two judges at the Seoul Central District Court dedicated exclusively to handling insurrection cases.

Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, third from right, speaks at a news conference after staging a solo 24-hour filibuster opposing the bill to create special insurrection tribunals during a plenary session of the National Assembly on Dec. 23, urging President Lee Jae Myung to exercise his right to request reconsideration of the legislation. [YONHAP]

The bill's critics argue that the legislation is unconstitutional because it undermines the principle of assigning cases randomly to judges. The DP counters that the revisions — including establishing appellate-level panels rather than at the first trial and selecting judges through judicial conferences and case-allocation committees — have eliminated constitutional concerns.

Such provisions are therefore designed to apply not to existing defendants, but to people who would be newly indicted in the future.

Unable to narrow the gap, tensions between the ruling and opposition parties ran high in the plenary session until the very end on Tuesday. As Jang’s filibuster exceeded 23 hours, DP Rep. Kim Byung-joo, who had registered to speak in favor of the bill, demanded that National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik allow time for a pro-bill speech. The exchange escalated into shouting matches between lawmakers from both sides.

Right after passing the bill to create insurrection tribunals, the DP moved to place on the plenary agenda a revision to the Information and Communications Network Act, which has sparked controversy over alleged infringements on freedom of expression.

The core of the bill is a provision that would impose punitive damages of up to five times the victim's losses on those who disseminate “false or manipulated information.” It also includes clauses that allow fines of up to 1 billion won ($675,000) for repeatedly circulating information that has been definitively deemed illegal or false, through criminal convictions, civil damages rulings or court-ordered corrections.

The DP defines “false or manipulated information” in the bill as “information that infringes on another person’s personal rights or property rights, or the public interest, and whose content is wholly or partially false or has been altered in a way that causes it to be mistaken for fact.”

People Power Party Rep. Choi Soo-jin delivers a filibuster opposing a partial revision to the Information and Communications Network Act during a plenary session of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Dec. 23. [LIM HYUN-DONG]

During deliberations at the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, led by hard-liners, even unintentional false information was almost included as a target of regulation and punishment. However, just before the plenary session, the DP leadership tightened the scope of the legislation by adding specific phrases such as “intent to cause harm” and “purpose of obtaining unjust gains.”

Defamation arising from the statement of facts — which President Lee had ordered to be abolished — was ultimately retained in the current law following committee deliberations.

To oppose the defamation bill, PPP Rep. Choi Soo-jin took to the floor to stage a filibuster the same day.

“This is a law that seeks to silence the people in the name of law and institutions,” Choi said, adding that “the bigger problem is that it combines punitive damages with administrative fines.”

She warned that if the amendment is implemented, “every report raising suspicions about those in power, every critical article, will immediately become a target for damage claims and complaints,” leading to a chilling effect on the media and the normalization of self-censorship.

Choi further accused the DP of threatening the press by installing a chair of the Korea Media and Communications Commission “tailored to its tastes and political code,” adding, “I warn the DP — abandon this futile desire to control the media.”

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.
BY SHIM SAE-ROM [[email protected]]