Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee Jae-myung, top left, applauds during a parliamentary plenary session held at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Monday submitted motions to the National Assembly to impeach the head of the state audit agency and three prosecutors involved in two different scandals surrounding first lady Kim Keon Hee.

The Assembly will put the motions to a vote during a plenary meeting scheduled for Wednesday, in accordance with plans announced by the main opposition, which holds the majority in the 300-seat parliament. By law, an impeachment motion must be put to a vote between 24 and 72 hours after it is introduced to a plenary session.

The impeachment motion against Board of Audit and Inspection Chair Choe Jae-hae was introduced after the Democratic Party claimed that Choe refused to submit documents to a parliamentary audit of the relocation of the presidential office and residence in 2022.

It is also based on allegations raised by a civic group that Choe failed to have his agency carry out a proper investigation into irregularities surrounding the 2022 relocation project. People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a major civic group, filed an audit request with the BAI in 2023, calling for an investigation into suspicions that government officials allocated an "excessive" budget for the relocation project.

Furthermore, the civic group pointed out that a construction company suspected to be owned by acquaintances of the first lady took part in the relocation project without having the necessary construction licenses.

Also tabled at the plenary session was the motion to impeach Lee Chang-soo, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, and two other top prosecutors, for declining to indict the first lady over an alleged stock manipulation scandal.

A few hours before the plenary session, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik postponed a parliamentary vote on the 2025 budget bill by one week amid the main opposition’s push to unilaterally pass its proposed budget cuts.

The Democratic Party of Korea, which holds a majority in the 300-seat National Assembly, had been gearing up to put the smaller budget to a vote during Monday’s plenary session.

The opposition proposal would cut over 4 trillion won ($2.86 billion) from the initial 677.4 trillion won plan for 2025 drawn up by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The ruling bloc in recent days has ramped up its calls for the main opposition to drop the unilateral proposal, saying cuts would create obstacles for the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s pursuit of key initiatives.

"After much consideration, we have decided not to present the budget bill at today's plenary session," Woo said during a press briefing held around noon.

"I strongly urge both (the ruling and the main opposition parties) to pass the budget by Dec. 10, which is the final day of the regular parliamentary session," he added.

Woo asserted that the current budget process has failed to “give hope” to the people, urging the two major parties to cooperate in renegotiating the proposal.

“I have decided (to postpone the vote) as the current budget process cannot give hope to the people. The Assembly has a responsibility to draw up a budget plan that can stabilize the livelihoods of the people and the economy, as well as give hope to the socially vulnerable,” he said.

Ten prominent lawmakers with the ruling People Power Party, including floor leader Choo Kyung-ho, visited the Assembly speaker ahead of his announcement to protest the main opposition’s effort to railroad the downsized budget.

The ruling party lawmakers also demanded that the Assembly on Monday not hear motions by the main opposition to impeach the head of the state-run Board of Audit and Inspection and three prosecutors who did not indict first lady Kim Keon Hee in an alleged stock manipulation scheme. Woo's announcement of a postponement, however, did not include the impeachment motions.

In the morning, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok called for the main opposition to scrap the downsized budget proposal, echoing the presidential office’s statement released the previous day.

“I express deep regret over the main opposition’s irresponsible and unilateral move (to railroad the budget plan) as the minister of an administrative agency handling the national budget,” Choi said in a joint press briefing of economy-related ministers.

“I ask the main opposition to withdraw its unilateral budget cut proposal, which is unprecedented in our constitutional history, and engage in negotiations (with the government) in a sincere manner,” added.

On Friday, the Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget & Accounts, a standing committee currently led by the opposition and tasked with reviewing national budgets, agreed to present the smaller 673.3 trillion won plan in Monday’s plenary session. Committee members with the ruling People Power Party boycotted the session in protest.

Choi pointed out that the smaller proposed budget would set back local businesses amid global economic uncertainties triggered by the incoming Donald Trump administration in the US.

“The main opposition has overplayed its hand by pursuing its downsized budget proposal as we face both internal and external challenges in an economic crisis involving increased trade protectionism (in the US) and instability in global supply chains,” he said.

“(The downsized budget plan) could downgrade and damage our sovereign credit rating … there have been cases overseas (in the past) where uncertainties displayed in policymaking, including those related to budgets, had negative effects on a country’s credit rating.”