Parliamentary committee passes resolution calling for expulsion of opposition lawmaker
Rep. Kim Tae-kyu of the main opposition People Power Party speaks during a plenary session at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
A parliamentary committee on Friday passed a resolution led by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) to demand the expulsion of Rep. Kim Tae-kyu over his remarks denying that former President Chun Doo-hwan had committed an "insurrection."
Kim of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) came under fire after he appeared in a YouTube interview the previous day and said he did not consider either Chun or former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law in December 2024, to have committed insurrection.
Chun was sentenced to death in 1996, later reduced to life imprisonment, on charges that included insurrection for his roles in a 1979 coup and the military's violent suppression of the Gwangju democratization movement in May 1980.
In a vote at the National Assembly's House Steering Committee, the resolution passed 16-0, with PPP lawmakers refusing to take part in the vote.
"Defending those who committed insurrection and undermined the constitutional order amounts to giving up one's qualification as a lawmaker," DPK floor leader Han Byung-do said, referring to Kim.
Shortly before the vote, Kim expressed regret for causing "misunderstanding" in a Facebook post.
"Although it was not my intention, I regret having provided the grounds for misunderstanding," he said. "I will be more careful with my choice of words from now on."
Friday's resolution itself cannot expel Kim. A separate motion must be reviewed by a special ethics committee and approved by at least two-thirds of all sitting lawmakers at a parliamentary plenary session.