President Yoon Suk Yeol holds up his fist in encouragement towards military personnel during the Armed Forces Day ceremony in Gwanghwamun, Jongno District, Seoul, in this picture provided by Yoon's office, Oct. 1. Yonhap 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 of Korea (DPK), 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 .
