Death of a marine: Korean parties clash at committee meeting

Park Chan-dae (right) answers questions from lawmakers during a plenary session of the National Assembly’s steering committee in Yeongdeungpo district in Seoul on July 1. Yonhap

Rival parties clashed on Monday over a bill that would require a special investigation into the military’s response to the death of a Marine last year.

The parliament’s steering committee held a plenary session and questioned Chung Jin-suk, the president’s chief of staff, deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo and other officials about the marine’s death.

Lawmakers from Korea’s main opposition party (DPK) reiterated their call for a law to conduct a special investigation into the death of Corporal Chae Su-geun, who died during a search operation for victims of heavy rains in July 2023. They accused the presidential office of exerting outside influence on the investigation and trying to destroy evidence.

The bill would appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations that the President’s Office and the Department of Defense improperly interfered in the Marine Corps’ investigation into Chae’s death.

A similar bill led by the opposition was rejected in the last National Assembly after President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed it, but the KDP reintroduced it after the new National Assembly began its work in late May.

“(The president) should veto any law he believes is unconstitutional,” Chung said during the meeting. “If the president does not exercise his right to request reconsideration when the unconstitutionality (of the law) is clear, that would be a dereliction of duty.”

Chung also stressed that the special investigation bill must be passed only after a bipartisan agreement has been reached.

Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party stressed that it must await the results of an ongoing investigation by the police and the anti-corruption agency into high-ranking officials. (Yonhap)