In a little while, the vote on "Mrs. Kim's Special Counsel"...'Lee Jae-myung Sentencing D-1' Tensions Rise

[Anchor]
In a little while, the third Kim Gun-hee independent counsel law, pushed by the Democratic Party of Korea, will be voted on at the plenary session of the National Assembly.

Political tensions are rising in line with the first trial sentence of representative Lee Jae-myung, which is just a day away.

I'm connecting with the reporter. Reporter Na Hye-in!

Has the plenary session started?

[Reporter]
While lawmakers are entering the plenary session one after another, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik has not yet appeared.

First of all, more than 20 non-controversial bills on people's livelihoods and other agendas will be voted on, and the Kim Gun-hee Special Prosecutor Act will be presented at the end.

The special prosecution law, which the Democratic Party of Korea is trying to pass today, reduces the scope of the investigation to allegations of Kim's involvement in the manipulation of Deutsche Motors' stock price and suspicions related to Myung Tae-kyun, and gives the chief justice of the Supreme Court the first right to recommend the special prosecution candidate.

However, the Democratic Party of Korea included a so-called "right to veto" clause that allows the opposition to demand a re-recommendation if the candidate recommended by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is deemed inappropriate.

Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the party, said in a morning meeting that suspicions surrounding Kim and Myung Tae-kyun are pouring out every day, claiming that the special prosecutor has now become an order and historical responsibility of the people.

He appears to be emphasizing the legitimacy of the special prosecution by linking Myung Tae-kyun, who is undergoing an arrest warrant review today, and in the morning, Rep. Lee Joon-seok of the New Reform Party also made a determined statement.

Lee is suspected of delivering Yoon Suk Yeol's intention to Myung as the representative of the People's Power at the time ahead of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun's nomination for the June 2022 by-elections.

Speaking to reporters on his way to an overseas business trip today, he said that President Yoon once mentioned the nomination of the mayor or district chief during the 2022 local elections, claiming that the key to the investigation is whether the president will intervene in the nomination.

[Lee Jun-seok/Representative of the New Reform Party: There was a time when the president asked me to nominate a specific mayor because the chairman of a provincial party didn't listen to Lee Jun-seok, and I don't know if the prosecution would be curious about that, but I'm going to say everything if I'm curious.]

However, Rep. Lee Joon-seok insisted that there is no message left regarding the nomination of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun that he sent to Myung Tae-kyun, only conveying the party's atmosphere at the time.

[Anchor]
If the Democratic Party pushes ahead with the vote, it is difficult to block the people's power in reality, right?

[Reporter]
The People's Power called a general meeting of lawmakers a little while ago to find a countermeasure, but floor leader Choo Kyung-ho entered the plenary session room for now, saying he would show it with action later.

If the Special Prosecutor's Law for First Lady Kim is presented to the plenary session, it seems that they discussed not attending the vote.

The Democratic Party says it has come up with an amendment, but in the end, the opposition party is deceiving that it will monopolize the right to recommend the special prosecutor, and if approved, it will suggest that President Yoon Suk Yeol exercise the right to request reconsideration, or veto.

Inside the People's Power, there is a consensus that the special prosecutor is on the way to the destruction of the party and the government, with no idea where the investigation will turn over the past nominations of Myung Tae-kyun and former lawmaker Kim Young-sun.

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, who was the chairman of the nomination management committee at the time of Kim Young-sun's nomination, reiterated to YTN that he had nominated according to clear standards and principles and had never discussed it with Lee Joon-seok, the then party leader.

Instead of the independent counsel, the ruling party will discuss the recommendation of a special inspector proposed by representative Han Dong-hoon as a solution to the Kim problem at today's general meeting of lawmakers.

Without a separate vote, the floor leadership is likely to be sorted out in the direction of negotiating recommendations with the opposition, and the temperature difference seems to remain between representative Han Dong-hoon and pro-Yoon-gye lawmakers, who emphasize rapid reform of the presidential office.

In particular, the pro-Yoon community is calling for a party audit over a recent post criticizing the president and his wife under the same name as representative Han Dong-hoon's family on the bulletin board of the People's Power Party.

There is a possibility that this issue will also be discussed at the general meeting of the members today.

[Anchor]
Representative Lee Jae-myung's first trial sentence is just a day away, so how is the atmosphere of the Democratic Party of Korea?

[Reporter]
All the key Democratic Party officials who spoke on the phone in the morning were convinced of Lee's innocence.

The prosecution said it was politically charged when it was not a case that would be a crime in the first place, and expected the judiciary to make the right judgment.

However, internally, it is also read that representative Lee is guilty, especially if he is sentenced to a fine of more than 1 million won, which is equivalent to invalidation of election, and seeks strategies.

Representative Lee Jae-myung has not scheduled an open date except for attending the plenary session where the vote on the Special Prosecutor's Act is scheduled today.

On social media, he wrote a long article saying he was sorry to his spouse Kim Hye-kyung, who will soon be sentenced to the first trial by the Suwon District Court.

On the other hand, the power of the people, who have been under the attack of First Lady Kim, appears to be making a massive counterattack.

Representative Han Dong-hoon stressed at a morning meeting that if representative Lee is confirmed to be invalidated for election, the Democratic Party of Korea should cough up 43.4 billion won in campaign funds that were preserved during the last presidential election.

The Democratic Party of Korea has criticized it for exploiting it and conducting a kind of "self-inflicted marketing" that could lead to the party's disintegration in the air.

[Han Dong-hoon / Representative of People's Power: Majority Democratic Party of Korea is intimidating judges and misleading the people with a kind of self-harm marketing that will break down in the air. There was an analysis that the return of 43.4 billion won would leave nearly 50 billion assets in the Democratic Party. I can't go public with the invalidity of the election either.]

Floor leader Choo Kyung-ho said, "No matter what the outcome will be tomorrow, Lee is likely to launch a bulletproof incitement to destroy the constitutional order," adding, "No matter how much public opinion is stimulated, the crimes committed will not disappear."

I'm Na Hye-in from YTN in the National Assembly.