PPP’s Kweon Seong-dong vows to waive immunity amid special counsel probe

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the People Power Party appears at the office of the special prosecutor in central Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

The National Assembly has begun the process for granting consent to arrest Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, former floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), who faces allegations of receiving illegal political funds from the Unification Church.

The Seoul Central District Court said Friday that a request for parliamentary consent to arrest Kweon on charges of violating the Political Funds Act had been issued to the special prosecution team. The request will then be forwarded to the National Assembly after approval by the Ministry of Justice and the president.

Upon receipt, the Speaker of the National Assembly must report it in the first plenary session, and starting 24 hours later, a vote must be held within 72 hours.

As the regular parliamentary session opens Monday and Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik is scheduled to attend China’s Victory Day celebrations on Wednesday, the report of the request and the vote could occur at a subsequent plenary session.

Under parliamentary immunity provisions, a sitting lawmaker cannot be detained or arrested during a session without Assembly consent. The arrest consent motion requires a majority of the total lawmakers present and a majority of those in attendance to pass. If approved, a date will be set for a prearrest warrant hearing; if rejected, the court will dismiss the warrant without the hearing.

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, second from left, of the People Power Party, appears at the office of the special prosecutor in central Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

Earlier, Kweon declared on social media that he would waive his immunity, emphasizing that he would not “hide behind privileges,” although he denounced the investigation as a “politically targeted probe.”

This marks the first time a special prosecution team has sought an arrest warrant for a sitting lawmaker in South Korea, making a National Assembly vote on the matter inevitable. With the ruling Democratic Party of Korea holding a majority of seats, the motion is widely expected to pass.

The special counsel investigating allegations surrounding former first lady Kim Keon Hee is also examining whether Kweon played a central role in alleged collusion between the Unification Church and the conservative PPP.

Kweon is accused of receiving 100 million won ($73,000) in January 2022 from a senior Unification Church official. Prosecutors suspect that afterward, he acted as a conduit between the church and then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, helping secure support for Yoon’s 2022 campaign.

Beyond the bribery allegations, investigators are probing whether Kweon facilitated broader institutional ties between the Unification Church and the PPP.