Parties clash over opposition's 'abuse' of impeachment process
Ruling party, Yoon's office hail verdict that overturned opposition-led impeachment motions
Rival parties clashed over speculations about the opposition party's impeachment abuse, following the Constitutional Court's ruling Thursday that overturned opposition-led motions to impeach a state auditor chief and three prosecutors.
The ruling bloc hailed the court's decisions, claiming they were proof that the opposition-led parliament had abused political power through a series of impeachments against innocent officials. The main opposition party, however, denied claims that it had been abusing the parliament's impeachment rights.
"The historic ruling struck down the Democratic Party's politically-motivated impeachment abuse," ruling People Power Party interim leader Rep. Kwon Young-se told reporters at the press conference at the National Assembly after the ruling.
This followed the Constitutional Court's unanimous 8-0 decision to overturn motions by parliament to impeach Choe Jae-hae, chair of the Board of Audit and Inspection, and three senior public prosecutors, including Lee Chang-soo, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
Kwon also described the impeachment motions as "attempts to stubbornly push ahead (with impeachment) based on the interests of the majority power, instead of the Constitution and law."
"Impeachments should not be abused for the sake of political interests, although the Constitution provides the grounds for impeachments and people endowed the impeachment power (to the National Assembly)," he added.
The presidential office also said in a note to reporters that the court's decision "rings the alarm on the opposition party's impeachment abuses."
Yoon's legal team, which represents the suspended president in both his criminal and impeachment trials, also noted that Thursday's rulings affirmed that the opposition party had sought to destroy constitutional order through legislative abuse, adding that its impeachment motion against Yoon should be struck down as well.
The parliament's impeachment motion against state audit chief Choe "led to Yoon's emergency martial law declaration" last December to shed light on the existence of anti-state forces, claimed Yoon's legal team.
However, the Democratic Party of Korea, which holds 170 out of 300 parliamentary seats at the National Assembly, denied power abuse claims, while blaming Yoon for lingering political uncertainties.
Rep. Jo Seoung-lae, senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said Thursday that the court had dismissed claims of impeachment abuse by the opposition-led parliament. This was in line with the court's rulings on the three prosecutors, which acknowledged legal violations on their part but did not determine whether the parliament had overstepped its impeachment authority.
All motions to impeach the four figures passed the parliament's plenary session on Dec. 5. The motion to impeach state auditor Choe passed in a 188-4 vote, while motions to impeach the three prosecutors won 185 votes out of 192 lawmakers present.
Choe was accused of deliberately targeting Yoon's political opponent in a state audit. Lee and the two prosecutors — Cho Sang-won and Choi Jae-hun, both senior prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office — were accused of giving first lady Kim Keon Hee preferential treatment by failing to indict her for alleged stock manipulation.
All 108 ruling party lawmakers boycotted the voting sessions in a show of protest against the opposition party's "irresponsible" moves.
Since Yoon's inauguration in May 2022, the opposition-led National Assembly has impeached 29 public officials. This has drawn backlash from the ruling bloc, which claims the opposition party has been attempting to paralyze the government.
The Constitutional Court has issued rulings for eight of the 29 impeachments. So far, none of the impeachments have been upheld.
Two days before the opposition-led impeachment, Yoon, in an address to the nation on Dec. 12 argued that the opposition parties were employing "bulletproof impeachments" to cover up their own corruption.
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