National Assembly Steering Committee Passes Resolution Urging Jinsook Lee's Expulsion as PPP Boycotts Vote

On August 25, the National Assembly Steering Committee, led by the Democratic Party of Korea, passed a resolution urging the expulsion of People Power Party lawmaker Jinsook Lee. People Power Party lawmakers boycotted the plenary session and the vote in protest of the Democratic Party's push to process the matter unilaterally.

On the 25th, at the 2nd plenary meeting of the National Assembly Steering Committee held in the National Assembly, Chairman Byungdo Han presented a resolution urging the expulsion of People Power Party lawmaker Jinsook Lee. People Power Party lawmakers did not attend this meeting. August 25, 2026 Photo by Hyunmin Kim

The committee convened a plenary session that day, tabled the resolution calling for the expulsion of Assemblywoman Lee, and held a vote. Chairman Byungdo Han announced that a total of 17 votes had been cast, all in favor, thus passing the resolution.

The resolution was proposed by Democratic Party lawmakers after Assemblywoman Lee held a forum at the National Assembly Library on August 13 under the theme of "Reevaluating the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement of 1980." At the time, the forum became the subject of controversy due to claims allegedly distorting the historical facts surrounding the May 18 Democratization Movement.

The Democratic Party maintains that it was improper for Assemblywoman Lee, as a member of parliament, to host an event at the National Assembly that denied or distorted the historical facts of the May 18 Democratization Movement.

Previously, the committee had also discussed tabling the resolution the day before, on August 24, but failed to process it due to opposition from the People Power Party. Chairman Han had stated that if an agreement could not be reached between the ruling and opposition party secretaries, he would bring the resolution to the floor on his own authority on August 25.

The People Power Party opposed the resolution, stating they could not consent to it. Choi Sujin, floor spokesperson for the People Power Party, expressed opposition to the resolution before the committee meeting, calling it "the tyranny of the majority ruling party."

However, the resolution passed by the committee on August 25 is a separate procedure from the actual expulsion of Assemblywoman Lee from the National Assembly. The expulsion of a lawmaker requires a review by the Special Ethics Committee and a two-thirds majority vote by all assembly members at a plenary session.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.