Opposition advances insurrection bill

[Anchor]

However, despite the request from Acting President Choi Sang-mok, the opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, unilaterally processed the special prosecution law that added charges of insurrection and inducement of foreign aggression today (1.13) in the Legislative Judiciary Committee.

The ruling party protested, stating that the bill could threaten national security.

Reporter Kim Cheong-yun has the details.

[Report]

The special prosecution bill for insurrection charges promoted by the opposition passed the National Assembly's Legislative Judiciary Committee.

It stipulates that the special prosecutor candidate should be recommended by a third party, specifically the Chief Justice, and that the criminal procedure law, which requires obtaining consent from the responsible person for searches of military-related confidential locations, will not apply.

In particular, in addition to the existing insurrection charges, a new charge of 'inducement of foreign aggression' has been added, alleging attempts to incite war through drone infiltration into Pyongyang and targeting the origin of balloon waste.

[Park Beom-kye/Member of the National Assembly's Legislative Judiciary Committee/Democratic Party: "Yoon Suk Yeol's thought is that he will maintain his power through insurrection and emergency martial law, even through war. Why can't we investigate this part? Why can't we investigate this part?"]

The ruling party boycotted the vote, claiming the law ignores national security realities.

[Song Seog-jun/Member of the National Assembly's Legislative Judiciary Committee/People Power Party: "To include even normal actions to guarantee the security of the Republic of Korea as if they were inducement of foreign aggression is, in a word, to lose the legitimacy of this law."]

The acting Minister of Justice expressed concerns about the foreign aggression inducement aspects, while stating that the recommendation rights for the special prosecutor have been improved.

[Kim Seok-woo/Acting Minister of Justice: "I still believe that there is a concern that national security and such aspects may be compromised when operating this system."]

The head of the National Court Administration proposed a solution to the controversy over investigative authority.

[Cheon Dae-yeop/Head of the National Court Administration: "One way to completely resolve the controversy could be to conduct the investigation again from the beginning through the special prosecution law..."]

The Democratic Party plans to process the special prosecution law that passed today in the plenary session on Jan. 16.

This is KBS News, Kim Cheong-yun.