Parliament`s rejection of lawmaker`s arrest

A bill seeking approval for the arrest of ruling Saenuri Party Rep. Chung Doo-un was rejected by the National Assembly Wednesday. A combined 271 lawmakers participated in the vote, in which 156 legislators said no, 74 yes, and 10 abstained. Another bill seeking approval for the arrest of independent lawmaker Park Ju-seon was passed, 148-93. The pledge by the ruling and opposition parties to give up the privilege of a lawmaker`s immunity to physical detention during a parliamentary session has thus been shown to be a blank promise.

The outcome of the vote on Chung apparently shows that lawmakers disapprove of how prosecutors have gone too far in submitting the bill on the arrest to pursue a court review of his arrest warrant. A total of 138 Saenuri lawmakers are said to have participated in the vote. The result thus indicates that those who rejected the bill (156) included lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic United Party, even if about half of Saenuri lawmakers endorsed the bill. The opposition party said, “How come the opposition party lawmaker is guilty while the ruling party lawmaker isn`t?” But speculation has it that opposition lawmakers chose to help protect Park Jie-won, floor leader of the Democratic United Party who faces summons for questioning over his alleged bribe-taking from a savings bank just like Chung. Whatever the reason, lawmakers seeking to protect their colleagues and thus preventing prosecutors from enforcing the law can never be justified.

The privilege of lawmakers to be immune to arrest was put in place when authoritative governments in the past were in power to guarantee political activities of legislators. To a certain extent, however, the measure has been abused as a defense that obstructs law enforcement since the possibility that an administration could abuse power has dimmed following the country`s democratization. In the wake of the inauguration of the 19th National Assembly, the ruling and opposition parties have raced to drop special privileges of lawmakers. The ruling party has proposed six reforms, including the withdrawal of a lawmaker’s immunity to arrest. The main opposition party has also proposed the scrapping of the pension program for lawmakers and a ban on lawmakers from having a second job to earn money. The rejection of the bill seeking approval for a lawmaker`s arrest has effectively shown that these pledges were nothing more than blank soundbites. Leading ruling party members including floor leader Lee Han-koo have tendered their resignations en masse to take responsibility for the results of the vote, but this can hardly ease the people`s sense of despair. They must be asking what can this kind of parliament do.

After the arrest of former Saenuri Party Rep. Lee Sang-deuk, Democratic United Party spokesman Park Yong-jin said, “The detention and investigation of former lawmaker Lee is natural considering all of the different suspicions surrounding him that have been raised over the past four and half years.” Yet the party`s floor leader Park Jie-won, who is also under probe for the same charge as Lee Sang-deuk, is strongly denying the allegations against him, calling it a “prosecutors’ plot” and “political oppression.” Party chairman Lee Hae-chan has even threatened prosecutors, saying, “I won`t forgive prosecutors.” He is thus applying a double standard by saying the investigation into ruling party lawmakers is enforcement of justice, while that into his party`s legislators is unjust. If Park Jie-won is indeed innocent, he can confidently speak to prosecutors to clear the charges against him.