(2nd LD) Yoon vetoes 2 special probe bills, including one involving first lady

▲ The Cabinet holds an extraordinary meeting at the government complex in Seoul on Jan. 5, 2024. (Yonhap)

(2nd LD) Cabinet-special probe bills

(2nd LD) Yoon vetoes 2 special probe bills, including one involving first lady

(ATTN: UPDATES with Yoon's exercise of veto; CHANGES headline)

By Lee Haye-ah and Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday vetoed two opposition-led special investigation proposals, one of which involves allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee, his office said.

Yoon exercised his veto power by endorsing a motion demanding the National Assembly reconsider the independent counsel bills that the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) railroaded through the Assembly last week.

The motion was approved during a Cabinet meeting minutes earlier.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotted last week's vote, denouncing the bills as the opposition's political ploy to negatively paint the Yoon administration ahead of April's general elections. The DP has rejected the argument, saying there should be no sanctuary in investigations.

First lady Kim has been accused of involvement in manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW car dealer in South Korea, between 2009 and 2012. She has denied the allegations.

The other special probe proposal is about allegations that six prominent people of the so-called 5 billion club were promised 5 billion won (US$3.8 million) each from an asset management firm involved in a corruption-ridden development project in the Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, south of Seoul.

"If the two bills are enacted, they may, on the contrary, interfere with the exercising of the people's precious voting rights in fair elections and only create confusion in national affairs," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said while presiding over the extraordinary Cabinet meeting.

It was the fourth time that Yoon has exercised his veto power. He had previously rejected a pro-labor measure known as the "yellow envelope law," a nursing act aimed at defining the roles and responsibilities of nurses, and a revision to the grain bill requiring the government's purchase of surplus rice.

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