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Park Kwang-on, the Democratic Party floor leader, and other members of the opposition party appear solemn after a motion consenting to the arrest of their party leader, Lee Jae-myung, was passed by the National Assembly on Sept. 21. (Yonhap)

A motion consenting to the arrest of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was passed by the National Assembly on Thursday. This comes after prosecutors requested a bench warrant for Lee on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in the Baekhyeon neighborhood development case and the SBW Group North Korea money transfer case.

The vote amounted to a fatal blow to Lee’s leadership, as he had instructed lawmakers of his party to vote down the motion the previous day.

Hell has broken loose within the Democratic Party in the aftermath of the vote, with floor leadership including floor leader Park Kwang-on resigning, and party leadership condemning those who voted in favor of the motion for “committing inexcusable acts of party dissolution.”

During a regular session held on Thursday, the National Assembly passed a motion consenting to Lee’s arrest with 149 votes out of 295 cast in favor of the motion and 135 opposing it, in addition to six abstentions and four invalid ballots.

The motion passed by a single ballot, as the number of votes needed for its approval was 148, or half the number of lawmakers present. Assuming all 111 People Power Party lawmakers voted in favor of the motion according to their party line, and those of the Justice Party (6), Transition Korea (1), and Hope of Korea (1), in addition to independent lawmakers who were previously affiliated with the ruling party, did so as well, 29 out of the 167 Democratic Party lawmakers who participated in the vote are estimated to have voted in favor of the motion.

The number of Democratic Party lawmakers who strayed from their leader’s directive appears to be as high as 39 if those who cast blank and invalid ballots are included.

Before voting began, Park asked fellow party members to help vote down the motion consenting to Lee’s arrest, conveying Lee’s determination to “unify” the Democratic Party, but he was not able to prevent those in favor of the motion from gaining the upper hand.

Now that the motion has been approved, whether Lee is to be arrested will be determined by the court after it questions him to determine the validity of prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant.

Chaos descended upon the Democratic Party following the motion’s approval. Democratic Party floor spokesperson Lee So-young described the outcome of the vote as “very surprising and shocking,” adding, “We appealed for [the motion] to be voted down multiple times, so I’m disappointed by the divergent result.”

The party convened an emergency caucus afterward, during which indignation was heaped upon lawmakers who voted in favor of the motion. Some called for accountability from floor leadership, arguing that it failed to clamp down on stray votes.

During a second caucus meeting held in the middle of the night after a closed-door meeting of party leadership, Park and the rest of the floor leadership announced their resignations. Secretary General Cho Jeong-sik and party executives handling political affairs under Cho also tendered their resignations.

“As the outcome of the vote diverged from the leadership’s discussions, appeals, and persuasions, we are taking responsibility for everything,” Lee So-young explained.

In a statement released Thursday night at around 11:50 pm, the leadership of the Democratic Party slammed those who voted in favor of the motion consenting to Lee’s arrest for “committing inexcusable acts of party dissolution,” taking aim at lawmakers who did not vote down the motion.

During Thursday’s regular session of the National Assembly, a motion to dismiss Prime Minister Han Duck-soo proposed by the Democratic Party also passed in a 175-116 vote with four abstentions. This is the first time a motion to dismiss a prime minister was voted up in the history of South Korea’s constitutional government. However, the likelihood of President Yoon Suk-yeol accepting this motion is as good as none.

The National Assembly also passed a motion to impeach Ahn Dong-wan, an assistant prosecutor general at the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, who is accused of bringing retaliatory charges against Yoo Woo-sung, who was falsely accused of being a North Korean spy by the Seoul metropolitan government.

Meanwhile, the special committee in charge of Supreme Court chief justice nominee Lee Gyun-yong’s confirmation hearing put out a progress report, in which the ruling camp called the candidate “qualified” while the opposition camp noted the opposite. A plan to process the motion to appoint Lee Gyun-yong during the upcoming regular session on Monday is currently being discussed between the ruling and opposition camps.

By Lee Woo-yun, staff reporter

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