The National Assembly's plenary session passed the "Kim Special Counsel Act"... "Lee Jae-myung's sentence" is raising tensions.

[Anchor]
The third Kim Gun-hee independent counsel law, pushed by the Democratic Party of Korea, passed the plenary session of the National Assembly.

The power of the people did not participate in the vote, protesting that it was an evil law for the bulletproofness of representative Lee Jae-myung, but the confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties is intensifying in line with the first trial of representative Lee tomorrow.

I'm connecting with the reporter. Reporter Na Hye-in.

The first lady Kim's independent counsel law was passed by the opposition party alone, right?

[Reporter]
Yes, the Kim Gun-hee Special Prosecutor Act, revised and proposed by the Democratic Party of Korea, passed the National Assembly plenary session with the approval of all 191 incumbent lawmakers.

People's Power lawmakers left the plenary session in protest of the vote, and Joo Jin-woo, a member of the National Assembly's legal and judicial committee, remained to discuss the opposition, but failed to block the passage of the bill.

The special prosecution law passed today reduces the scope of the investigation to allegations of Kim's involvement in Deutsche Motors stock price manipulation and suspicions related to Myung Tae-kyun, and gives the chief justice of the Supreme Court the first right to recommend special prosecution candidates.

However, the Democratic Party of Korea included a so-called "right to veto" clause that allows the opposition to demand a re-recommendation if the candidate recommended by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is deemed inappropriate.

Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the party, claimed that suspicions surrounding Kim and Myung Tae-kyun are pouring out every day, and that the independent counsel has now become an order and historical responsibility of the people.

However, the power of the people indicated that the opposition party would propose to President Yoon Suk Yeol to exercise the right to request reconsideration, or veto, saying that it is an anti-constitutional bill that monopolizes the second right to recommend and veto the special prosecution.

[Anchor]
The strong confrontation has been reproduced once again, and the power of the people is in the position of appointing a special inspector who inspects the president's relatives, right?

[Reporter]
Yes, the People's Power will reconvene the general meeting of the lawmakers in a while to discuss the recommendation of a special inspector that representative Han Dong-hoon proposed as a solution to the Kim problem.

In particular, there is a consensus within the ruling party that the independent counsel is on its way to the destruction of the party, with no idea where the investigation into Myung Tae-kyun and former lawmaker Kim Young-sun, who are at a crossroads for arrest on charges of nomination transactions.

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, who was the chairman of the nomination management committee during the June 2022 by-elections when allegations of intervention by President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife emerged, reiterated that he had nominated according to clear standards and principles.

[Yoon Sang-hyun / People's Power: It has changed from a primary to a strategic nomination, this word itself is a lie. In a word, it's a story like a fictional novel. I don't know why they need to be investigated. What's the connection? Me, no, I never answered the phone or discussed this with CEO Lee Jun-seok.]

Rep. Lee Joon-seok of the New Reform Party, who was the leader of the People's Power at the time, made a revealing statement today.

Representative Lee is suspected of delivering the intention of the then-elect of Yoon Suk Yeol to Myung Tae-kyun ahead of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun's nomination.

Speaking to reporters on his way to an overseas business trip today, he said that President Yoon once mentioned the nomination of the mayor or district chief during the 2022 local elections, claiming that the key to the investigation is whether the president will intervene in the nomination.

[Lee Jun-seok/Representative of the New Reform Party: There was a time when the president asked me to nominate a specific mayor because the chairman of a provincial party didn't listen to Lee Jun-seok, and I don't know if the prosecution would be curious about that, but I'm going to say everything if I'm curious.]

However, Lee Joon-seok told reporters a little while ago that President Yoon's demand for nomination did not materialize during the local elections, and he was wary of the broad interpretation that he thought he could communicate with the party leader and presidential candidate or elected president.

He maintained his existing position that there is no message left that he sent to Myung Tae-kyun about the nomination of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun, but that he only conveyed the party's current at the time.

[Anchor]
Representative Lee Jae-myung's first trial sentence is just a day away, so how is the atmosphere of the Democratic Party of Korea?

[Reporter]
All of the key Democratic Party officials who spoke to our reporters were convinced of Lee's innocence.

The prosecution said it was politically charged when it was not a case that would be a crime in the first place, and expected the judiciary to make the right judgment.

However, internally, it is also read that representative Lee is guilty, especially if he is sentenced to a fine of more than 1 million won, which is equivalent to invalidation of election, and seeks strategies.

Representative Lee Jae-myung has not scheduled an open date except for attending the plenary session where the vote on the Special Prosecutor's Act is scheduled today.

On social media, he wrote a long article saying he was sorry to his spouse Kim Hye-kyung, who was sentenced to the first trial by the Suwon District Court.

On the other hand, the power of the people, who have been under the attack of First Lady Kim, appears to be making a massive counterattack.

Representative Han Dong-hoon stressed at a morning meeting that if representative Lee is confirmed to be invalidated for election, the Democratic Party of Korea should cough up 43.4 billion won in campaign funds that were preserved during the last presidential election.

The Democratic Party of Korea has criticized it for exploiting it and conducting a kind of "self-inflicted marketing" that could lead to the party's disintegration in the air.

Floor leader Choo Kyung-ho said, "No matter what the outcome will be tomorrow, Lee is likely to launch a bulletproof incitement to destroy the constitutional order," adding, "No matter how much public opinion is stimulated, the crimes committed will not disappear."

I'm Na Hye-in from YTN in the National Assembly.