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| ▲ Interior Minister Lee Sang-min (C, at top of photo) attends a plenary parliamentary session on Dec. 8, 2022, where a motion calling for his dismissal was reported. |
(LEAD) parliament-interior minister
(LEAD) National Assembly passes motion calling for dismissal of interior minister
(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with more info)
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- The opposition-controlled National Assembly on Sunday passed a motion calling for the dismissal of Interior Minister Lee Sang-min over the bungled government response to the deadly Itaewon crowd crush.
The motion won backing from 182 of the 183 lawmakers who cast ballots, with one vote declared invalid.
Members of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), which has opposed the dismissal motion, boycotted the vote and walked out of the chamber en masse before voting began.
The motion, introduced last week by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), was reported to the National Assembly on Thursday. A vote must take place within 72 hours after a motion is reported at a plenary session or it is automatically scrapped, according to the National Assembly law.
Lee has been under daunting pressure to step down as the head of the interior ministry in charge of supervising the police and the fire agencies to take responsibility for the bungled response to the crowd crush that killed 158 people on Oct. 29.
The motion requires backing from at least 150 lawmakers, and the DP has 169 seats in the 299-member Assembly.
Even if the motion was passesd, President Yoon Suk-yeol is widely expected to reject it.
The DP has threatened to impeach the minister if Yoon rejects the dismissal motion.
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