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The National Assembly places a bill on establishing a specialized insurrection and treason tribunal on the agenda during an extraordinary session on Dec. 22, 2025. (Yonhap)

Korea’s National Assembly passed legislation on Tuesday to establish a dedicated tribunal to try crimes of insurrection. 

The bill passed with 175 of 179 lawmakers present voting in favor, 2 voting against and 2 abstaining. Lawmakers with the opposition People Power Party boycotted the vote. 

Before the vote on the bill, lawmakers approved a motion to end the filibuster on the bill, with 185 of 186 lawmakers approving the motion and one voting against. 

The bill, introduced by the Democratic Party, is a revised version of earlier legislation that had passed the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Dec. 3. Rep. Han Jeoung-ae, the chair of the Democratic Party’s policy committee, served as the main sponsor of the revised bill. All Democratic Party lawmakers were listed as co-sponsors, as the bill was adopted as the party’s official platform at a general meeting of lawmakers that morning.

The legislation stipulates that dedicated panels will be established at the Seoul Central District Court and Seoul High Court to handle cases involving insurrection and treason, based on criteria such as the number of panels and judge requirements established by judges at each court. 

Following approval by the judges’ councils, the chief justices of each court level will appoint the judges to oversee the tribunal.

Previously, the Democratic Party had pursued a plan to form a dedicated recommendation committee composed of judiciary personnel, with the chief justice of the Supreme Court making the final appointment of recommended judges. 

However, to eliminate potential constitutional challenges arising from the recommendation process, the party shifted to granting the primary authority for court composition to each court’s case distribution committee and introducing a procedure by which the judges of each court can vote on the proposed composition. 

In response, the People Power Party accused the Democratic Party of “attempting to reshape the judicial order through majority rule” and launched a filibuster with Rep. Jang Dong-hyuk as the first speaker. The National Court Administration did not issue an official position on the amended bill submitted to the plenary session. However, the general opinion both inside and outside the judiciary is that the constitutional concerns have been largely resolved through the bill’s amendments.

By Choi Ha-yan, staff reporter; Jeon Gwang-joon, staff reporter

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