President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was arrested as the leader of a rebellion, was released, prompting the Democratic Party of Korea to enter a "24-hour emergency action" phase. The party will hold a rally outside in solidarity with the four opposition parties including the Justice and Innovation Party, the Basic Income Party, the Justice Party, and the Social Democratic Party, and will conduct daily plenary meetings and sit-in protests. They also filed a complaint against Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, who played a decisive role in the immediate withdrawal of the prosecution's appeal.
On the 10th at 6:30 p.m., the Democratic Party will hold an emergency action rally near Anguk-dong in Jongno, Seoul, along with the four opposition parties. On that day, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, is also scheduled to attend and read a joint declaration of emergency action with the leaders of the opposition parties.
The Democratic Party plans to strengthen its alliance with the opposition until the Constitutional Court announces a ruling on the impeachment of President Yoon. The roundtable meeting of the five opposition parties will hold prior gatherings on this day and on the 13th. It is reported that they have instructed their members to actively participate at the party level.
On the previous day, during a "Roundtable Meeting for Joint Response to the Emergency Situation" held at the National Assembly, Lee stated, "The leader of the rebellion evaded arrest through a peculiar interpretation of the law" and noted, "I will do my best to ensure that, together with the leadership of the five opposition parties, party members, and the people, we can definitely overcome this difficulty."
The Democratic Party immediately launched emergency action at the party level after President Yoon's release. Starting this week, they will hold plenary meetings twice daily and continue a "relay of condemnation statements" sit-in protest until midnight in the National Assembly's Rotunda. The day before, members of the Planning and Finance Committee and the Political Affairs Committee spoke out against the situation in the National Assembly.
The Democratic Party filed a complaint against Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, who ordered the release of President Yoon. The five opposition parties visited the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials on that morning to submit a complaint regarding Shim's abuse of power. They urged Shim to resign voluntarily and warned that impeachment proceedings would be pursued if he refused.
Lee Yong-woo, the chairman of the Democratic Party's Legal Committee, held a press conference before the complaint and said, "The prosecution voluntarily abandoned its authority to appeal (the release) immediately," adding, "Even the special investigation team, which has the authority to appeal immediately, was instructed by Shim not to appeal immediately and to release (Yoon) immediately. What is the intention?" He further criticized, "This constitutes a serious abuse of power crime."
It appears that there is a full-scale effort to prevent the expansion of public opposition to impeachment following Yoon's release. It will likely be asserted that while there were procedural issues in determining Yoon's detention period during the investigation, the necessity for impeachment has not disappeared. The strategy is to mobilize public opinion for impeachment through rallies outside and the complaints against Shim.
Han Min-soo, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, met with reporters after the Supreme Council meeting that day and said, "The opinion that the cancellation of Yoon Suk-yeol's arrest is unrelated to the impeachment trial is emerging not only from the Democratic Party but also from the media, academia, and the legal community," adding, "There is a possibility that Yoon Suk-yeol will aggressively provoke far-right forces, resulting in a recurrence of the second 서울서부지법 (Seoul Western District Court) riot."