[News Today] OPPOSITION RE-SUBMITS PROBE BILL

[LEAD]
The Democratic Party has reintroduced the 'Insurrection Special Counsel Bill' to probe the emergency martial law's legality. As pointed out by the ruling party, a special counsel candidate will be recommended by a third party, The People Power Party said it would discuss the bill if certain problematic clauses were removed.

[REPORT]
The National Assembly voted down opposition-sponsored bills on appointing special counsels to probe insurrection charges against President Yoon Suk Yeol and allegations surrounding First Lady Kim Keon-hee in a re-vote on Wednesday.

The Democratic Party re-submitted the special probe bill on the insurrection case to parliament on Thursday after making a partial revision.

Under the revision, a special counsel candidate will be recommended by a third party, not by the opposition bloc. This aims to remove grounds for the People Power Party's opposition and pressure the ruling party to agree to the special probe bill.

But for the scope of the investigation, the main opposition party added an accusation against the president of causing an inter-Korean conflict and putting the nation in danger.

Park Chan-dae / Floor Leader, Democratic Party
It has been already revealed that he induced North Korea's military attacks. We will disclose all the truth of his criminal acts to push the nation into war.

The PPP says it is willing to discuss the special probe bill with the opposition bloc if the so-called toxic clauses, which are about the opposition party's exclusive right to recommend a special counsel and the excessively broad investigation scope, are taken out.

The ruling party has apparently concluded that it would be better to propose an alternative to the opposition, as public sentiments have aggravated since the declaration of emergency martial law and more of its lawmakers voting in favor of the opposition-backed special probe bills in the re-vote.

Kweon Seong-dong / Floor Leader, People Power Party
We will not be afraid of discussing removing toxic clauses. We‘ll begin effective discussions on the two special probe bills within the constitutional boundary.

The rival parties continued to clash over the execution of a detention warrant against Yoon.

The ruling party's interim leader Kwon Young-se repeatedly raised suspicions about collaboration between the opposition party and police, saying that opposition lawmakers are virtually directing police to execute the warrant.

Meanwhile, DP Floor Leader Park Chan-dae pressured the Corruption Investigation office for High-ranking Officials and the police to execute the warrant quickly, saying that detaining the president is the starting point for stabilizing state administration and promoting economic recovery.