President Yoon Suk Yeol (left) and his wife Kim Keon Hee (Yonhap)
President Yoon Suk Yeol (left) and his wife Kim Keon Hee (Yonhap)

Acting President Choi Sang-mok vetoed special counsel bills targeting impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee, at a Cabinet meeting he presided over on Tuesday.

Choi virtually reiterated former acting president Han Duck-soo's remarks, saying that bipartisan compromise is a prerequisite for his approval as these bills contain unconstitutional elements.

Choi said during the Cabinet meeting at the Government Complex Seoul that both bills had deprived the ruling party of its right to take part in the process of nominating candidates for the special counsels.

The two bills, passed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly, were designed to launch special counsel investigations into Yoon's alleged insurrection and his wife Kim’s alleged election meddling and corruption.

The bills were submitted to the government on Dec. 17, automatically setting a deadline of Jan. 1 for the acting president to exercise his presidential veto power.

If passed, parties excluding the ruling People Power Party could have recommended candidates for a special counsel empowered to create a 205-person team to investigate Yoon and run it for up to 170 days. There are six opposition parties that have at least one lawmaker in South Korea's National Assembly.

Also, the six opposition parties would have been able to recommend candidates for another special counsel who could lead a 155-member team for 170 days to investigate Kim's corruption allegations.

The allegations against Kim range from stock manipulation and accepting a luxury handbag from an acquaintance, to interfering in the ruling People Power Party's nomination process ahead of a by-election in June 2022 and the general election in April this year.

The main opposition party had previously floated three similar bills, but Yoon vetoed all of them. None of those bills garnered enough votes to override the veto.


consnow@heraldcorp.com