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Nat'l Assembly approves arrest motion of ex-PPP floor leader over alleged role in martial law

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By Yonhap
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Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, who was charged with obstructing the resolution of martial law, makes a personal statement before voting on his arrest motion at the plenary session of the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, who was charged with obstructing the resolution of martial law, makes a personal statement before voting on his arrest motion at the plenary session of the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

The National Assembly on Thursday approved a motion to arrest Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, former floor leader of the People Power Party (PPP), over his alleged role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid.

A special counsel team earlier filed for an arrest warrant for Choo on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection for allegedly obstructing PPP lawmakers from participating in a parliamentary vote to lift Yoon's martial law decree.

By law, sitting lawmakers are immune from arrest while parliament is in session and can only be put under arrest with consent from the National Assembly.

The arrest motion passed in a 172-4 vote with two abstentions and two invalid ballots during a parliamentary plenary session. All PPP lawmakers, including Choo, boycotted the vote.

With the motion's passage, a court is expected to hold a hearing early next month to decide whether to issue the arrest warrant.

Choo, once considered a key ally of Yoon, repeatedly changed the location of an emergency party meeting on the night of Dec. 3, when the now-ousted leader declared martial law.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team investigating allegations surrounding Yoon's martial law attempt suspects the then floor leader deliberately changed the venue at Yoon's request.

Choo rejected the allegations in remarks before the National Assembly ahead of the vote, slamming the move as a "political maneuver" aimed at dissolving the PPP.

"I never asked any lawmaker of our party to not participate in the vote to lift martial law that day," Choo said.

Choo served as the former Yoon administration's first finance minister before taking the PPP's floor leadership. He stepped down from the role days after Yoon's short-lived imposition of martial law.