A key opposition-led bill was passed by the National Assembly Thursday to appoint a special counsel to investigate the key figure behind a political drama surrounding President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee.
The 300-member parliament voted 182-91 in favor of the bill, dubbed the "Myung Tae-kyun special counsel bill" after the self-proclaimed power broker accused of tweaking certain opinion polls in Yoon's favor ahead of the 2022 election. One lawmaker abstained.
Just one lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party, Rep. Kim Sang-wook, voted in favor of the bill, although the party decided to vote against the bill as a bloc earlier the same day.
Myung, a 54-year-old based in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, is suspected of manipulating election predictions to favor Yoon ahead of his narrow win against the Democratic Party of Korea candidate Lee Jae-myung.
Myung is also suspected of playing a role in Yoon and Kim's interference in the People Power Party's nomination process in the National Assembly by-election in 2022.
Some of the politicians suspected of having been involved with Myung include Lee Jun-seok, a lawmaker with the minor Reform Party who at the time was the leader of the People Power Party, Oh Se-hoon, the conservative Seoul mayor, and Hong Joon-pyo, the mayor of Daegu.
According to the bill passed Thursday, the candidates to serve as special counsel leading the investigation into the presidential couple would be picked by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
The special counsel would look into whether Yoon and his wife did anything illegal in the 2022 election campaign regarding the polling process. The special counsel would also investigate whether Yoon or Kim attempted to meddle in the nomination of ruling party candidates in the 2022 by-election.
Thursday's bill, however, faces a likely veto by acting President Choi Sang-mok, who has already vetoed a similar bill for lacking bipartisan consensus. Choi has 15 days from the day of the bill's passage to decide whether to approve or veto it.
arin@heraldcorp.com
