Speaker Cho to table fabricated-prosecution special counsel bill at 3 p.m.; filibuster standoff imminent

[Financial News] Action on the so-called “Special Counsel Bill on Fabricated Prosecutions” is now imminent.
After talks between the ruling and opposition parties broke down ahead of the plenary session on the afternoon of the 5th, National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik said he would table the bill at 3 p.m.
In response, the People Power Party plans to use every means, including a filibuster (a lawful obstruction of parliamentary proceedings through unlimited debate), to launch a fight to block the bill.
The People Power Party has signaled that it plans to protest outside the National Assembly. From the outset, the legislative and budget session is seeing a head-on hardline showdown between the ruling and opposition parties.
DPK floor leader Han Byung-do and People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig met at the National Assembly that day under the chairmanship of National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik and discussed the plenary agenda, but failed to reach an agreement.
The DPK called for the tabling of the Special Counsel Bill on Fabricated Prosecutions, along with the so-called “three laws to boost housing supply”—the Urban Renewal Act, the Urban Renewal Promotion Act and the Yongsan Park Act—as well as a resolution related to ultra-wide-area special zones (Mega-Zones) and the bill on persons of merit for democracy.
The People Power Party described the Special Counsel Bill on Fabricated Prosecutions as an “unconstitutional parliamentary coup” and said that if the bill is tabled, it plans to filibuster every bill brought forward, including the special counsel bill.


[email protected] Jiwon Song Reporter