South Korea’s acting leader vetoes oppn-sponsored Bills

Seoul: South Korea’s acting leader on Thursday vetoed a spate of contentious Bills sponsored by the main opposition party, deepening political strife in the wake of parliament’s impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The ruling and opposition parties have been bickering over how much authority Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country’s No. 2 official, has assumed since the opposition-controlled National Assembly last Saturday voted to suspend Yoon’s presidential powers over his short-lived Dec 3 martial law.

The Constitutional Court is to determine whether to formally dismiss the conservative Yoon as president or reinstate him.

Law enforcement authorities are also separately investigating whether Yoon’s martial law enforcement amounted to rebellion. Yoon’s defence minister, police chief and several other military commanders have already been arrested over the case.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party earlier considered impeaching Han as well for failing to stop Yoon’s martial law declaration, but shelved the idea after he became acting leader.

Four of the six bills vetoed by Han were meant to introduce greater state financial assistance programmes for the country’s agriculture and fisheries industries.

The most contentious bill is the Grain Management Act, which would require the government to buy surplus rice if the price drops too sharply to protect the country’s farming industry and promote its food sovereignty. Han said the bill would cause “immense” financial burdens on the government and eventually lead to further drops in rice prices.

Another controversial bill is the National Assembly Testimony Appraisal Act, which would give lawmakers more power to request people to attend parliament hearings and submit documents. Under the proposed legislation, individuals could no longer decline such requests by citing the protection of trade secrets or personal information.

The Democratic Party said the bill is necessary to determine the full details of Yoon’s martial law decree.