Lee Seong-yun presses Kim Min-seok again: 'Why did you miss the martial law vote?'

Lee Seong-yun, a supreme council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, on Wednesday urged former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok to explain himself, saying the only thing "the public and party members want to know is why he missed the vote to lift martial law."

In a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon, Lee wrote that "every single vote in the National Assembly was precious for lifting Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law" and asked again: "Why did you miss the vote to lift martial law?"

Lee added that Kim, whose constituency includes the National Assembly, had entered the building at 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 — the night martial law was declared — and remained there for more than two hours until 12:45 a.m. "Please give a clear answer as to what on earth happened during that time," he wrote.

Lee had raised the same question on Monday, asking Kim why he had not participated in the Assembly vote to lift Yoon's martial law and pressing him on what cold medicine he had taken, after Kim said he had taken cold medicine and fallen asleep. Kim rebuffed the claims, calling them "defamation based on falsehoods" and insisting he had been inside the National Assembly at the time of the vote.

Broadcaster Kim Eojun invited the former prime minister onto his show "Gyeomsoneur Himdda News Factory" on Wednesday and aired closed-circuit television footage from inside the Assembly on the night of the martial law declaration. Kim Eojun said that, to his knowledge, the former prime minister had not slept through the night on cold medicine but had woken up late, climbed over the Assembly wall to get inside in time, and "missed the vote by a split second." Kim Min-seok agreed, saying he was "one second late" and that the moment he sat down in the main chamber, then-Democratic Party leader Lee Jae Myung, seated next to him, told him he had "just pressed" the button.