South Korea's National Assembly on the 26th passed a resolution calling for the expulsion of People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook over a disputed forum on the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement. It was the first time in the country's constitutional history that a resolution urging the expulsion of a sitting lawmaker has cleared a plenary session. Most People Power Party lawmakers walked out just before the vote in protest.
The resolution passed with 157 votes in favor, one against and one invalid ballot among the 159 lawmakers present.
The People Power Party had earlier held a general meeting of its lawmakers and decided to boycott the vote in protest of the resolution being put on the agenda. Most of its members left the chamber, though Cho Kyoung-tae, Kim Hyoung-dong, Kim Ye-ji, Woo Jae-jun and Han Ji-a took part in the vote.
Han told reporters after the vote that she had abstained despite supporting the measure in principle. "The forum that Rep. Lee held was highly inappropriate, and I strongly condemn it," she said, adding that she was calling for Lee's expulsion in line with the party's own charter and rules.
The resolution stemmed from a forum on the May 18 Democratization Movement that Lee co-hosted with right-wing groups at the National Assembly Library on the 13th. Speakers at the forum described the uprising as "a 10-day disturbance that took place in Gwangju in May 1980," a characterization at odds with the established historical assessment, fueling the controversy.
The Democratic Party concluded that Lee's decision to host the forum at the National Assembly itself violated a lawmaker's duty to maintain dignity. The resolution stated that holding the forum damaged the honor and authority of the National Assembly.
Rep. Cheon Jun-ho of the Democratic Party, who led the resolution, accused Lee of turning the National Assembly into "a platform for agitation that vilifies the May 18 Democratization Movement." He also said Lee's invocation of academic freedom after the forum amounted to a "historical coup" and an "act of destroying the constitutional order" aimed at overturning the meaning of the Gwangju uprising.
Lee left the chamber without taking part in the vote and sharply criticized the Democratic Party. "What is happening in the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea effectively makes it possible to impeach a lawmaker for falling out of favor with the president and the majority party," she said. "Just as North Korea's Workers' Party runs a one-party dictatorship, the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea has become a Democratic Party dictatorship."
Explaining why she held the forum, Lee cited "freedom of expression and the question of merit recipients, which involves taxpayer money." She added that the ruling party talks about writing the spirit of the May 18 movement into the preamble of the Constitution while telling people they need not know anything about it.
Passage of the resolution alone does not strip Lee of her seat. The measure expresses the National Assembly's political intent to call for her expulsion, and a separate disciplinary process is required for an actual expulsion.
Cheon separately filed a disciplinary motion against Lee on the 21st. Such motions go to the National Assembly's Special Committee on Ethics for review before being placed on the plenary agenda, and expelling a sitting lawmaker requires the support of two-thirds of all members under the Constitution.
