hankyoreh

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung takes part in a workshop for lawmakers at the Oak Valley resort in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on Aug. 28. (Kim Bong-gyu/The Hankyoreh)

The National Assembly is scheduled to hold a vote at its regular session on Thursday on a motion to allow for the arrest of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung following its approval Tuesday by President Yoon Suk-yeol.

While Lee himself has remained quiet on the vote while continuing with a hunger strike in the hospital, Democratic Party factions supporting and opposing the motion have been waging a tense battle of behind-the-scenes communications with their National Assembly members.

On Tuesday, presidential office spokesperson Lee Do-woon said that Yoon had approved the arrest motion for Lee Jae-myung.

On Tuesday, prosecutors requested a warrant to arrest Lee on charges including breach of trust and bribery in connection with allegations of preferential treatment in the development of the Baekhyeon neighborhood in Seongnam and a transfer of funds to North Korea by the Ssangbangwool Group.

Barring any unforeseen developments, the National Assembly was scheduled to report Lee’s arrest motion at its regular session on Wednesday and submit the matter for a vote at its Thursday plenary session.

Opposition parties were up in arms over Yoon’s summary approval of the arrest motion while visiting New York to attend a UN General Assembly meeting. The approval came in response to prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant for Lee, who was recently hospitalized for declining health amid his weeks-long hunger strike.

Democratic Party spokesperson Kang Sun-woo said Yoon’s approval of the arrest motion amounted to “signing a death warrant for a political rival.”

“This amounts to a declaration asking an opposition party leader to ‘die already,’” she added.

Those belonging to the political opposition appear likely to face internal conflict as they confront a second arrest motion for Lee without having determined ahead of time which way to vote.

Floor spokesperson Kim Han-kyu said the Democratic Party’s parliamentary leadership planned to “meet with managers and leaders from many groups [within the party] to gather various opinions today and tomorrow.” But just a day or two of discussions is unlikely to bridge the divide between those in favor of and against approving the motion.

Many in the party insisted that Lee should call for approval of the arrest motion after a pledge to waive his immunity. But now that he is in the hospital, the possibility of him taking action directly is seen as effectively out of the question.

With the party now entirely bearing the burden of making a decision, its mainstream — including Supreme Council members from the pro-Lee wing — have been vocally calling for opposition to the motion to be adopted as a party platform.

During a Supreme Council meeting on Monday, numerous members reportedly called on the council members to unanimously support a platform against approving the motion and ratify it at a general meeting of lawmakers, but were unable to reach a conclusion due to some opposition.

With increased calls in the party to vote down the motion amid Lee’s silence, members outside the party’s mainstream have been working behind the scenes to rally votes for it to pass.

“At the time of the first arrest motion vote last February, where there was a party platform-level pledge to vote it down, an estimated 38 lawmakers in the Democratic Party broke ranks, including 18 approvals and 20 invalid votes or abstentions,” noted a party member outside the pro-Lee wing.

“We checked and found that those who cast invalid votes or abstained before are now leaning toward approving the motion,” they added.

“Each lawmaker has to wrestle with this on their own, but many people think we can’t go on facing the bad name of being a party where [leaders] are untouchable,” they said.

On Tuesday, the situation appeared divided between efforts by die-hard supporters attempting to establish the lay of the land through the use of their firepower — including creating and sharing lists of lawmakers who have and have not responded to calls and messages urging them to vote down the motion — and the members who are leaning toward approving the motion but keeping quiet due to their fears of potential consequences for nominations in the upcoming general election.

With Lee absent and independent lawmaker Youn Kwan-suk being under arrest and unable to attend, the quorum for a regular session vote is 149 seats.

If all members of the ruling People Power Party, the Justice Party, and independents join ranks to approve the motion — meaning 122 votes in favor — they would still need 29 Democrats to pass the motion.

At the same time, there is also potential for some Justice Party members to break ranks with their party’s calls for approving the motion at a party platform level, while some ruling party members could opt for an “adverse selection” approach to put the opposition in a difficult position.

By Um Ji-won, staff reporter

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