The Seoul Central District Court said on the 10th that it sent a request for consent to arrest to prosecutors for independent lawmaker Kang Sun-woo, for whom an arrest warrant was sought over allegations of receiving a 100 million won nomination bribe.
Sitting lawmakers are protected by arrest immunity during a National Assembly session, so a motion to arrest must pass the Assembly's plenary session before a pretrial detention hearing on the warrant can proceed. Once the court sends the request for consent to arrest to prosecutors, it is submitted to the National Assembly via the Ministry of Justice and then put to a vote at a plenary session.
Under the National Assembly Act, after receiving a request for consent to arrest, the National Assembly speaker must report it at the first plenary session convened, and a vote must be held between 24 and 72 hours after the report. If that deadline is missed, it is placed on the agenda and voted on at the next plenary session convened.
Earlier, prosecutors sought arrest warrants for Kang and former Seoul City Council member Kim Kyung on charges including violations of the Political Funds Act and breach of trust and bribery. The two are accused of giving and receiving 100 million won in exchange for a nomination at a hotel in Yongsan in Jan. 2022, ahead of the local elections.
This is the fourth time in the 22nd National Assembly that an arrest warrant has been sought for a lawmaker. Motions to arrest People Power Party lawmakers Kweon Seong-dong and Choo Kyung-ho and Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Shin Young-dae, among others, have also been submitted to the Assembly.