Lee Jun-seok's Expulsion Petition Records Second Largest Participation with Over 600,000 Votes

The National Assembly's public petition demanding the expulsion of reformist party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok has concluded with over 600,000 votes, marking the second-largest participation on record.

According to the National Assembly on the 6th, the petition titled "Request for the Expulsion of Lawmaker Lee Jun-seok" which started on the 4th of last month, gathered 604,630 votes by midnight on the 5th and was closed.

The petition was triggered by inappropriate comments made by Lee Jun-seok during the third televised debate for the 21st presidential candidates on May 27.

Under the National Assembly's public petition system, if a petition receives over 50,000 votes within 30 days, it is automatically referred to the relevant standing committee for review.

The petition garnered 50,000 votes within just 5 hours of its launch, reflecting significant public interest in the matter.

Significance of Expelling Lawmakers and Demands from Former Lawmaker Hur Eun-a

Former lawmaker Hur Eun-a, who left her party and joined the Democratic Party after conflicts with Lee Jun-seok, urged that "the National Assembly must now demonstrate its responsiveness to the public's demands," calling for the immediate formation of the National Assembly's Ethics Committee and the initiation of expulsion procedures.

Hur emphasized that "It took only 5 hours for 50,000 people to sign the petition, but the National Assembly has yet to even form the special ethics committee," adding that "the inaction in addressing the issue of one lawmaker will ultimately undermine the ethics of the National Assembly."

Expulsion of a lawmaker is a very serious issue that requires the approval of more than two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly, much like the enactment of a constitution or presidential impeachment.

Historically, the only instance of expelling a lawmaker occurred on October 4, 1979, when Kim Young-sam, then leader of the New Democratic Party, was expelled for criticizing the Park Chung-hee regime during a foreign interview, putting the country in danger.

The current petition for the expulsion of Lee Jun-seok gained the second-largest support after last year's petition requesting an immediate proposal for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, which received 1,434,784 votes.

The third-largest was the petition calling for the establishment of a special investigation law for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol and investigation of treason, which closed on January 3 with 400,287 votes.

Image sources: Reformist Party Lee Jun-seok / News1, Lee Jun-seok Reformist Party Lawmaker / News1