People Power Party lawmaker Chu Kyung-ho, who is under investigation by the special counsel investigating the insurrection case on suspicion of obstructing the Dec. 3 martial law lift vote, declared that he would give up his immunity from arrest. The Democratic Party of Korea, the dominant ruling party, is expected to pass the arrest consent motion for Chu.
Chu told reporters at the National Assembly on the 4th, "I promised the people to give up my immunity from arrest. I will keep that promise this time as well," and added, "I will not hide behind immunity from arrest and will face this with confidence."
The special counsel investigating the insurrection case sought an arrest warrant for Chu the previous day, citing the seriousness of the crime and concerns about evidence destruction. Chu is suspected of obstructing the vote to lift martial law in December last year by changing the People Power Party's general meeting location three times.
Regarding the special counsel's arrest warrant, Chu said, "It contains many unreasonable points," and added, "It strongly raises suspicions that this was a highly political approach, producing an investigative outcome ordered by the Democratic Party of Korea and forcing it to fit."
Addressing the allegation of changing the general meeting venue, Chu said, "As you know, the general meeting is always alternated between the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts conference room and Room 246 in the main building. We have operated under the practice of alternating locations with the Democratic Party," and added, "A notice went out that, based on the working-level team's judgment that day, the venue would be the Budget Committee conference room, but the warrant includes a claim that it was announced as the Budget Committee conference room for the purpose of preventing attendance at the plenary session."
The special counsel will send a request for an arrest consent motion for Chu to the Ministry of Justice during the day. For a sitting lawmaker, a pretrial detention hearing (substantive warrant review) is held only after the arrest consent motion passes the National Assembly plenary session. After the National Assembly speaker receives the request from the Ministry of Justice, the motion is reported at the first plenary session convened thereafter and is put to a vote no earlier than 24 hours and within 72 hours. The motion passes if a majority of all members are present and a majority of those present vote in favor.
The Democratic Party, which holds a majority of seats, plans to leave Chu's arrest consent motion to a free vote. However, there are reportedly not many lawmakers in the party who oppose detaining Chu. The Democratic Party also issued a commentary that day urging Chu to "give up immunity from arrest."
A key Democratic Party official said, "As I understand it, there are not many lawmakers in the party who oppose (Chu's) arrest," adding, "(Chu) has given statements to the special counsel, and (the special counsel) is known to have secured a lot of physical evidence. (Chu) himself also said he would give up immunity from arrest."