The ruling Democratic Party(DP), leveraging its parliamentary majority, has passed three controversial special prosecutor bills in the National Assembly on Thursday, despite fierce protest by the opposition People Power Party.

The first bill seeks to investigate President Yoon Suk Yeol’s involvement in allegations of insurrection and other crimes related to the December 3 martial law declaration.

The second targets Yoon’s wife, former First Lady Kim Keon-hee, addressing allegations of stock manipulation, the unlawful acceptance of a luxury handbag, arranging illegal polls, and interfering in the PPP’s candidate nominations.

The third focuses on the 2023 death of a Marine during a search operation amid heavy rains, and alleged interference in the subsequent military investigation by the presidential office and defense ministry.

All three bills passed with a 194 votes for, three votes against and with one abstention, and without the participation of the main opposition PPP, which boycotted the vote, except for three lawmakers, citing concerns over legislative overreach. 

Various iterations of the bills had been previously vetoed by then-President Yoon, but are now expected to be promulgated by President Lee Jae-myung.