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A Marine Corps reservist in the National Assembly gallery on May 2, 2024, watches with tears in his eyes as lawmakers pass a special act to assign a special counsel to probe alleged efforts to cover up an internal investigation into the death of a Marine carrying out flood rescue efforts in July 2023. (Yonhap)

A special act calling for an independent prosecutor’s probe into alleged outside interference in an investigation into the death of a Marine passed the National Assembly under the lead of the Democratic Party and other opposition parties on Thursday. The passing of the bill came 10 months after the death of Chae in July 2023.
 
The presidential office immediately vowed to “respond sternly to the Democratic Party’s railroading of the bill,” and warned of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s possible exercise of his right of reconsideration — a de facto veto.
 
The National Assembly held a plenary session on Thursday afternoon. The special act concerning the special counsel probe into Chae’s case passed with all present 168 members voting in favor.
 
Kim Woong was the only member of the PPP who remained to vote in favor of the bill, while all others walked out of the chamber in protest. The vote came after the National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo accepted a motion requested by the Democratic Party of Korea to change the agenda in order to add the bill.
 
The bill is aimed at determining whether the presidential office, the Ministry of Defense, and others exerted pressure to cover up the findings of the Marine Corps investigative team tasked with determining what led to the death of a Marine corporal surnamed Chae, who died in July last year while conducting a search operation at a flood site in North Gyeongsang Province, to skew the findings and cover up who was at fault. The bill stipulates that opposition parties would nominate two special prosecutors, and the president would appoint one of them to investigate for a period of up to 120 days.
 
After the bill was passed, Democratic Party floor leader Hong Ihk-pyo told reporters that the legislation was “passed in accordance with the wishes of the people.”

However, in a briefing after the bill’s passage, Yoon’s chief of staff, Chung Jin-suk, said, “Exploiting Cpl. Chae’s unfortunate death for political gain when the case is being investigated by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and the police is bad politics.”
 
“The Democratic Party has railroaded through the legislation even before the ink dried on the first page of the agreement between the two parties to cooperate. The presidential office will respond sternly,” he added.
 
The statement suggests that the president will use a veto. PPP floor leader Yun Jae-ok commented, “Given the legislative process and the content of the bill, I have no choice but to recommend a veto.”
 
If Yoon vetoes the bill, the Democratic Party plans to reintroduce it in the plenary session later this month. For a vetoed bill to be reintroduced, it requires a majority of the 296 lawmakers present, with at least two-thirds of those present (198 if all are present) voting in favor. As the opposition has 180 seats, 18 members of the PPP would need to vote in favor.
 
Before passing of the special act concerning Chae, the ruling and opposition parties passed a bill mandating a new investigation into the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush disaster. 259 lawmakers were present, and the bill passed with 256 votes in favor and three invalid votes. The day before, the PPP and the Democratic Party agreed to amend the bill.

By Kang Jae-gu, staff reporter; Sun Dam-eun, staff reporter; Shin Min-jung, staff reporter

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