Democratic Party of Korea Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung at the party leadership Wednesday. (Yonhap)
Democratic Party of Korea Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung at the party leadership Wednesday. (Yonhap)

A bid by the Democratic Party of Korea to launch additional investigations aimed at President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee failed in a National Assembly vote Wednesday, with the party vowing to reintroduce the bills until they pass.

The two bills, if passed, would initiate a special counsel investigation into Yoon’s botched attempt to impose martial law, and another one into his wife’s suspected stock price manipulation.

Of the 300 lawmakers present, 198 voted in favor of the special probe into Yoon's alleged insurrection and 101 against, with one abstention, falling short of the two-thirds support required for passage.

The ruling People Power Party has opposed the bills over the provisions that would allow the Democratic Party to choose the special counsel tasked with investigating the presidential couple without bipartisan consent.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Democratic Party pressed the ruling People Power Party to get on board in passing the bills against Yoon and his wife.

“Not agreeing with the special counsel investigations only means you are defending Yoon, the leader of the insurrection ring. Don’t be a party of insurrection,” said Rep. Park Chan-dae, the Democratic Party floor leader.

The Democratic Party has accused Yoon of committing insurrection with his attempt to impose martial law a month ago, but the party has since removed the charge of insurrection from the causes of Yoon's impeachment in an apparent bid to expedite the case in the Constitutional Court.

The Democratic Party has been ramping up a pressure campaign against acting President Choi Sang-mok, as the ongoing investigation of Yoon by the police and the anti-corruption agency appears to have stalled with the failure of the most recent attempt to arrest the suspended president.

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the chair of the Democratic Party, called on Choi to “stop ignoring the public's calls” for Yoon's arrest, speaking at a meeting of the party leadership Wednesday.

Lee made the remarks a day after his party filed a criminal complaint against Choi with the police, accusing the acting president of dereliction of duty for failing to disperse the presidential security agents who prevented investigators from arresting Yoon.

Lee characterized Choi's decision not to step in to facilitate Yoon's arrest as an act that “ruins the economy and middle-class livelihoods.”

“For the sake of the economy and middle-class and working South Koreans, I hope acting President Choi remembers that maintaining the rule of law and the constitutional order is his first duty to the country,” Lee said.

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, the People Power Party floor leader, said that seeking charges against Choi, the Democratic Party was attempting to topple yet another leader, having impeached the previous acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

“The Democratic Party is working with one goal in mind, and that is to speed up the election timetable and get its leader Lee elected president. The party does not care for national interests, foreign relations or the economy if it means Lee can run for president as soon as possible,” Kweon said.

Last week, joint efforts by the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials failed to detain Yoon despite entering the presidential compound, which was surrounded by Presidential Security Service officials and a crowd of the president’s supporters protesting the attempt.