Interior Minister Lee Sang-min attends a plenary session at the National Assembly, Dec. 8. Yonhap

An opposition-led motion calling for the dismissal of Interior Minister Lee Sang-min over the bungled government response to the Itaewon crowd crush was reported to the National Assembly on Thursday, paving the way for its passage this week.

"A dismissal motion for Cabinet member Lee Sang-min has been submitted," Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo said during the National Assembly's plenary session, requesting floor leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties to deliberate on the schedule for the remaining process.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) introduced the dismissal motion last week but failed to take the next step of reporting it to a plenary session as Speaker Kim refused to call the National Assembly into a meeting while urging the rival parties to seek a compromise on the issue.

On Wednesday, the DPK held a general meeting of lawmakers to determine the next course of action and decided to continue to push ahead with the dismissal motion first before pursuing the minister's impeachment if President Yoon Suk-yeol rejects the motion.

The ruling People Power Party has strongly opposed the motion.

Under the National Assembly Act, lawmakers are mandated to vote on a dismissal motion for a Cabinet member within 72 hours of its submission to the parliamentary plenary session. The vote can begin 24 hours after the submission.

A no-confidence motion requires the consent of one-third of lawmakers to be put to a vote and the approval of half of lawmakers to be passed. It is, however, legally non-binding.

Under these circumstances, the DPK is expected to railroad the dismissal motion with its majority in parliament at a plenary session slated for Friday.

If Yoon rejects the motion, the DPK threatened to seek Lee's impeachment, which also requires the consent of one-third of lawmakers to be put to a vote and the approval of half of lawmakers to be passed.

Once an impeachment motion is passed, the case is referred to the Constitutional Court and all duties are suspended for the official in question.

The impeachment becomes effective if six of nine justices vote to uphold it. (Yonhap)