South Korea's National Assembly on the 26th passed a resolution urging the expulsion of Lee Jin-sook, a People Power Party lawmaker, over remarks that critics say distorted the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement. It was the first time in the country's constitutional history that a resolution calling for a sitting lawmaker's expulsion cleared a plenary session.
The resolution passed with 157 votes in favor, one against and one invalid ballot among the 159 lawmakers present. The People Power Party decided at a general meeting of its lawmakers to boycott the vote in protest of the resolution being tabled. Five of its members — Cho Kyoung-tae, Kim Hyung-dong, Kim Ye-ji, Woo Jae-jun and Han Ji-ah — took part anyway.
The resolution stemmed from a forum on the Gwangju Democratization Movement that Lee co-hosted with right-wing groups at the National Assembly Library on the 13th. Speakers at the event described the movement as "a 10-day riot that took place in Gwangju in May 1980," a characterization that contradicts the established historical assessment and drew widening criticism.
Rep. Chun Jun-ho of the Democratic Party, who led the resolution, said Lee "turned the National Assembly into a platform for incitement that vilifies the Gwangju Democratization Movement," calling it "a coup against history" and "an act that destroys the constitutional order." Lee, who left the plenary chamber without voting, pushed back, saying, "What is happening in the National Assembly of Korea is that falling out of favor with the president and the majority party effectively makes it possible to impeach a lawmaker."
The vote does not immediately strip Lee of her seat. The resolution is a political expression of the Assembly's call for expulsion, and actually removing a lawmaker requires a separate disciplinary process. A disciplinary motion against Lee, filed separately by Chun, must clear the Special Committee on Ethics and then win the support of at least two-thirds of all sitting lawmakers in a plenary vote for expulsion to take effect.
