South Korean lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday to appoint a special counsel to investigate treason charges against President Yoon Suk-yeol and other top military officials over his botched attempt to impose martial law.
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Additionally, Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) is exploring his potential resignation as early as February, and considering a snap election in April or May over the ongoing turmoil.
In a plenary session vote, 210 of the 287 attending lawmakers, including 23 from the PPP, backed the bill. The PPP allowed members to vote at their discretion without a party line. The bill seeks to establish a permanent special counsel to conduct investigations independently of existing authorities, reducing potential presidential or governmental interference.
Unlike regular special counsels, the president cannot veto a permanent special counsel, allowing the Assembly to immediately start recommending candidates.
The main opposition Democratic Party had advocated for a special counsel investigation, arguing that public prosecutors cannot be trusted to conduct a thorough investigation of Yoon, a former prosecutor-general.
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Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. They say a president is by law allowed to declare martial law only during “wartime, warlike situations or other comparable national emergency states” and South Korea wasn’t in such a situation. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the South Korean Constitution doesn’t allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament in any situation.