The Cabinet on Tuesday demanded the National Assembly reconsider a bill calling for a special counsel investigation into corruption allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee, the third time the government has sought a veto of the opposition-led bill.

A motion demanding reconsideration was approved during a Cabinet meeting held 12 days after the bill passed through the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

President Yoon Suk Yeol is widely expected to endorse the motion.

"The right to demand reconsideration is almost the only means by which the president can check the legislature's abuse of power under our Constitution," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said in his opening remarks at the Cabinet meeting.

"The president, who has a duty to defend the Constitution, cannot but exercise his right to demand reconsideration against bills with unconstitutional elements," he said.

The bill in question calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate two key allegations involving the first lady -- her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation scheme and interference in election nominations through a power broker.

The scope of the proposed investigation was scaled back from two previous versions of the bill, both of which were vetoed by Yoon and then scrapped in a revote at the National Assembly.

The latest bill also calls for the Supreme Court chief justice to recommend a special counsel, with a clause allowing opposition parties to request a new recommendation in the event the proposed candidate is deemed unfit. (Yonhap)