Gov’t demands parliamentary reconsideration of special counsel bill targeting first lady

The Cabinet on Monday demanded the National Assembly reconsider three bills, including one calling for a special counsel investigation into first lady Kim Keon Hee's stock manipulation and other allegations. A motion demanding reconsideration was approved during a Cabinet meeting 11 days after the bills passed through the opposition-controlled National Assembly. President Yoon Suk Yeol is widely expected to endorse the motion. The special counsel bill calls for an independent probe into allegations the first lady was involved in manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW car dealer in South Korea, between 2009 and 2012, illegally received a luxury bag in 2022, and interfered with the ruling party's candidate nominations ahead of the April 2024 general elections. A similar bill previously passed through the Assembly but was vetoed by Yoon in January and later scrapped in a revote. The government also demanded the reconsideration of a bill mandating a special counsel probe into allegations the presidential office and the defense ministry inappropriately interfered in the military's investigation into the death of a Marine during a search mission for victims of heavy downpours in July 2023. The main opposition Democratic Party had earlier passed three bills similar to it, but the latest one calls for the Supreme Court chief justice to recommend candidates for the special counsel. The third bill put up for reconsideration calls for making it mandatory for the central and local governments to provide financial resources for the issuance of local currency vouchers designed to boost the economy. Monday's motion is the latest action in a long-running cycle of the opposition-controlled National Assembly unilaterally passing contentious legislation and Yoon vetoing it. Source: Yonhap News Agency