DP urges Yoon not to veto special investigation bills

▲ Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, convenes a leadership meeting at the National Assembly, while its leader, Lee Jae-myung, is being treated at a hospital in Seoul, on Jan. 3, 2024. (Yonhap)

DP-special probe bills

DP urges Yoon not to veto special investigation bills

SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) -- The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) warned President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday not to veto two special investigation bills, one of them into stock manipulation allegations involving the first lady.

Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo, floor leader of the DP, said Yoon will face national backlash if he rejects the bills that passed through the DP-controlled National Assembly last week. The DP will also seek all possible legal measures if Yoon exercises his veto power, he said.

One of the proposals mandates an independent counsel investigation into allegations first lady Kim Keon Hee was involved in the stock manipulation of Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW car dealer in South Korea, between 2009 and 2012.

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 connected to a corruption-ridden development project in the Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, south of Seoul.

"Yoon will face a crucial national challenge if he vetoes the two special investigation proposals," Hong said in a leadership meeting. "Should he exercise his veto power, the DP will review all available legal measures."

"I would like to ask Yoon and the ruling People Power Party's emergency committee leader, Han Dong-hoon, again. Is the president's family an exception to your principle that no one is above the law?" Hong said.

Meanwhile, Hong expressed regret over North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's characterization of inter-Korean relations as those "between two states hostile to each other" and urged the North's leader to make efforts to make inter-Korean ties peaceful ones.

(END)

<저작권자(c) 연합뉴스, 무단 전재-재배포, AI 학습 및 활용 금지>

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved