Parliamentary Panel Calls for Expulsion of Opposition Lawmaker Over Insurrection Remarks
A National Assembly committee has adopted a ruling-party-backed resolution calling for opposition lawmaker Kim Tae-kyu’s expulsion over comments about former presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Yoon Suk Yeol. The measure is not binding and any removal would require a separate ethics process and a two-thirds plenary vote.
A South Korean parliamentary committee adopted a resolution Friday calling for the expulsion of an opposition lawmaker after he disputed whether two former presidents had committed insurrection, escalating a political dispute over how elected officials characterize attacks on the constitutional order.
The National Assembly’s House Steering Committee approved the resolution against Rep. Kim Tae-kyu of the main opposition People Power Party. All 16 participating members voted in favor, while lawmakers from Kim’s party did not take part in the vote. The resolution was led by the ruling Democratic Party.
Kim drew criticism after appearing in a YouTube interview on Thursday and saying that he did not regard either former President Chun Doo-hwan or former President Yoon Suk Yeol as having committed insurrection. Yoon declared martial law in December 2024, an episode that remains at the center of intense legal and political debate.
Chun seized power through a 1979 military coup and was later convicted on charges that included insurrection for his role in the coup and the military’s violent suppression of the May 1980 Gwangju democratization movement. He received a death sentence in 1996 that was later reduced to life imprisonment.
Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do argued that defending people responsible for insurrection and undermining the constitutional order was incompatible with the qualifications expected of a lawmaker. The dispute reflects the continuing political sensitivity surrounding South Korea’s authoritarian past as well as the fallout from Yoon’s martial law declaration.
Before the committee vote, Kim posted a statement on Facebook expressing regret that his comments had caused misunderstanding. He said that had not been his intention and pledged to exercise greater care in his choice of words. His response stopped short of accepting the ruling party’s characterization of his remarks.
The committee resolution does not itself remove Kim from office. Expulsion would require a separate disciplinary motion to be examined by a special ethics committee and then approved by at least two-thirds of all sitting members in a plenary session of the National Assembly. That high threshold means the resolution is, for now, a formal political demand rather than a completed disciplinary action.
Any subsequent ethics proceedings will test whether the ruling bloc can build support beyond the committee vote and whether lawmakers treat Kim’s remarks as protected political speech or conduct warranting the legislature’s most severe sanction.