President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday endorsed Cabinet motions demanding parliamentary reconsideration of three opposition-led bills, including one calling for a special counsel probe into first lady Kim Keon Hee's allegations. It marked the 11th time that Yoon has exercised his veto power since taking office in May 2022, and a total of 24 bills have been rejected amid ongoing tensions between the opposition-controlled National Assembly and Yoon. The most disputed bill calls for an independent probe into allegations the first lady was involved in manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors Inc.
, a BMW car dealer in South Korea, between 2009 and 2012, illegally received a luxury bag in 2022 and interfered with the ruling party's candidate nominations ahead of the April 2024 general elections. A similar bill previously passed through the Assembly but was vetoed by Yoon in January and later scrapped in a revote. The main opposition Democratic Party, which holds 171 seats in the 300-member parliament, said earlier it will push to put the bills to a revote soon after Yoon vetoes them.
The leadership of the ruling People Power Party, which holds a little more than one-third of the Assembly seats, has been trying to garner internal support to vote down the bills in a revote, which requires at least two-thirds support. Another bill calls for mandating a special counsel probe into allegations the presidential office and the defense ministry inappropriately interfered in the militar.