A motion to arrest Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung was passed by the National Assembly on Monday. According to a vote in the plenary session of the National Assembly, the motion to arrest Lee was passed with 149 votes in favour, 136 against, six abstentions and four invalid votes. Excluding the abstentions and invalid votes, at least 29 members of the Democratic Party supported the motion. Lee will now face a substantive review of the writ by the court. Regardless of what the court decides, Lee has suffered a major political setback as a party leader.Few would have expected the motion to arrest Lee to pass. There were many voices calling for him not to be caught up in the prosecution’s attempts to divide the opposition by seeking an arrest warrant outside of the parliamentary session, and his prolonged hunger strike had generated a lot of sympathy. However, Lee’s request for a no-confidence vote from his hospital bed a day before the vote caused a stir, and he became a self-imposed exile. Lee had promised to waive immunity from arrest during the last presidential election. In a speech to the National Assembly bargaining group in June, he pledged, “If the prosecution requests an arrest warrant, I will appear on my own initiative to undergo a substantive review of the warrant and reveal the prosecution’s insolence.” This time, however, he reversed his promise to the public three months earlier, claiming that it would “give wings to the political prosecution’s fabricated investigation”. Criticism followed that the hunger strike was a “bulletproof” way to avoid detention. Nevertheless, Lee’s extreme supporters threatened to “end the political lives of lawmakers who voted for the arrest,” creating a death squad. Despite the pressure, many lawmakers voted in favour of the motion. While Lee’s leadership has suffered irreparable damage, his political life has not been cut short. Lee has always maintained that the prosecution’s case against him is a regime-wide political retaliation against the presidential election loser. The arrest warrant requested by prosecutors includes allegations that he caused at least 20 billion won in damages to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation by granting preferential treatment to a private contractor, Baek Hyun-dong, and that he caused Ssangbangwool Group to pay a total of $8 million in fees for a trip to North Korea. In response, Lee called the charges “fabrication and manipulation using political prosecutors.” Lee must now confidently prepare for the warrant review and receive the court’s judgement. While it may be difficult for Lee to appear at the warrant hearing due to his prolonged hunger strike, it would be appropriate for the leader of the main opposition party to personally appear before the court and plead his innocence.
With the passage of the arrest motion, the Democratic Party has partially shed the burden of the ‘Lee Jae-myung judicial risk’ that has been ongoing since the presidential election. The ruling People’s Power asked the Democratic Party to “conclude the 21st National Assembly with a time for people’s lives through dialogue and compromise.” The Democratic Party is the single largest party with an absolute majority of seats. It is time 온라인카지노 for the ruling and opposition parties to take responsibility and focus on taking care of the people.