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President Lee Jae-myung and Prime Minister Han Seong-sook exchange views during a Cabinet meeting held at the Blue House on July 21. / Courtesy of Yonhap News

An extension bill for the Comprehensive Special Counsel Act passed a Cabinet meeting on July 21.

Prime Minister Han Seong-sook chaired an extraordinary Cabinet meeting at the Central Government Complex in Seoul at 5 p.m. to deliberate and approve the revised special counsel bill.

The second extension bill revises the Act on the Appointment of a Special Counsel to Investigate Insurrection, Foreign Aggression, and Power Abuse by Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim Keon Hee. Its core objective is to extend the investigation timeframe for the Comprehensive Special Counsel, which consolidated and inherited three previous special counsel probes into insurrection allegations, Kim Keon Hee, and Marine Chae.

Under the amendment, the maximum allowable extension period subject to presidential approval increases from a single 30-day period to two separate 30-day extensions, allowing for up to 60 additional days of investigation.

As a result, the deadline for the Comprehensive Special Counsel's investigation has been extended from July 24 to August 23.

The cap on dispatched government officials to the special counsel team will also expand from 130 to 150, with the Ministry of National Defense added to the list of agencies from which personnel can be requested. The bill was put to a vote during a plenary session of the National Assembly the previous day, led by the ruling coalition including the Democratic Party of Korea.

The People Power Party launched a filibuster in protest, condemning the measure as political retaliation. However, the Democratic Party moved to terminate debate 24 hours after the filibuster began in accordance with National Assembly rules.

Under parliamentary law, a filibuster can be ended with the consent of three-fifths or more of incumbent lawmakers. The ruling coalition terminated the debate and passed the bill.

                                                                                                       Park Young-hoon