SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In a shock final result, South Korea’s opposition-controlled parliament voted Thursday to cross a movement submitted by the federal government that enables the potential arrest of the nation’s main opposition determine, Lee Jae-myung, who faces a widening investigation over corruption allegations.
Lawmakers voted 149-136 in favor of lifting Lee’s immunity to arrest, reflecting rising divisions inside the opposition Democratic Occasion over his authorized issues because the nation approaches a basic election.
The vote allowed the Seoul Central District Courtroom to carry a listening to on a request from prosecutors for an arrest warrant for Lee, which was set for subsequent Tuesday. It was not instantly clear whether or not the court docket is prone to grant an arrest warrant after Lee was hospitalized Monday throughout a weekslong starvation strike in protest of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol’s home and international insurance policies. The Democratic Occasion voted Lee as its chairperson in August final 12 months, months after he narrowly misplaced the presidential election to Yoon.
Identified for his outspoken model, Lee beforehand mentioned he was prepared to surrender his immunity in opposition to arrest as a result of he was assured about proving his innocence. However on Wednesday he pleaded with lawmakers to vote in opposition to the movement, saying on Fb that his potential arrest would “connect wings to prosecutors’ manipulated investigation.”
Lee didn’t instantly touch upon the result of the vote.
Many Democratic Occasion lawmakers regarded surprised after Nationwide Meeting Speaker Kim Jin-pyo introduced that the movement had handed. One, Kim Byungkee, known as the occasion members who voted in favor of the movement “canine.”
“I salute these Democratic Occasion members who colluded with prosecutors to unseat Chairperson Lee and grant impunity to prosecutorial dictatorship,” Kim derisively wrote on Fb.
Tons of of Lee Jae-myung’s supporters rallied exterior the meeting and the principle workplace of the Democratic Occasion, shouting offended slogans and waving indicators studying “R.I.P. Democratic Occasion” and “Arrest the lawmakers who supported the movement.”
The Democratic Occasion controls 168 seats within the 298-seat meeting.
Lee is being investigated by prosecutors over numerous felony allegations. They embody accusations that he offered illegal favors to a personal investor that reaped enormous income from a doubtful actual property mission within the metropolis of Seongnam, the place he was mayor for a decade till 2018. Prosecutors additionally imagine that Lee pressured a neighborhood businessman into sending tens of millions of {dollars} in unlawful funds to North Korea as he tried to arrange a go to to that nation that by no means materialized.
Forward of Thursday’s vote, some reformist members of Lee’s occasion, together with Cho Eungcheon, known as for him to remain true to his phrases and publicly endorse the movement searching for his personal arrest. They mentioned that may assist rally public help for the Democrats that has been sliding since his presidential election loss and silence suspicions that he was conducting a starvation strike to keep away from arrest.
Lee has tied his starvation strike to a worsening economic system and a broad vary of Yoon’s international coverage choices, together with the federal government’s refusal to oppose Japan’s launch of handled wastewater from the broken Fukushima nuclear energy plant into the ocean. Lee has additionally accused Yoon of aggravating tensions with North Korea by increasing army coaching and safety cooperation with the USA and Japan.
Below legislation, courts can not maintain hearings on requests for arrest warrants for lawmakers throughout Nationwide Meeting periods except the meeting permits them to take action by vote. The Democratic Occasion blocked a earlier try by prosecutors to arrest Lee in February.
Lawmakers additionally handed a movement on Thursday urging Yoon to sack his prime minister, Han Duck-soo, for alleged incompetence and coverage failures.
The dueling motions underscored deepening political bickering forward of the parliamentary elections subsequent April. The vote is seen as a midterm referendum on Yoon’s presidency as he struggles to navigate post-pandemic financial woes and escalating tensions with nuclear-armed North Korea.
Yoon, who warned world leaders a few potential arms alliance between North Korea and Russia on the U.N. Common Meeting on Wednesday, is extensively anticipated to reject the decision to dismiss Han, who has been a straightforward goal for the opposition.
The Democratic Occasion submitted the movement searching for Han’s ouster on Monday, hours after Yoon’s authorities submitted its movement requesting lawmakers to elevate Lee’s immunity.
Lawmakers voted 175-116 in favor of pushing for Han’s dismissal. The movement, signed by 168 opposition lawmakers, alleged that Han and different Cupboard members prompted “disaster for individuals’s lives, democracy and peace on the Korean Peninsula” and “constantly demonstrated incompetence, inaction and irresponsibility.”