Interior minister impeached in historic parliament vote

Politics

Published: 08 Feb. 2023, 18:36 Updated: 10 Feb. 2023, 17:27

Interior minister impeached in historic parliament vote

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo announces the passage of the impeachment motion against Interior Minister Lee Sang-min at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Interior Minister Lee Sang-min became the first sitting minister to be impeached by the National Assembly in the country's modern political history on Wednesday.

The impeachment motion, which holds Lee responsible for the government’s handling of a deadly crowd crush in Itaewon in October, was passed by the liberal Democratic Party (DP) with support from the minor liberal Justice Party and Basic Income Party.

Out of 293 lawmakers present, 179 voted in favor of impeachment, while 109 voted against.

The DP holds a 169-seat majority in the National Assembly.

Lee has denied responsibility for the Oct. 29 crowd crush in the Itaewon nightlife district of Seoul that ultimately claimed the lives of 159 people and injured at least 196, arguing that the disaster could not have been foreseen by the government and that he was unaware that large gatherings take place in the area during Halloween.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday called Lee’s impeachment “the first step to correcting the irrationality and irresponsibility of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration.”

With his impeachment, Lee is immediately suspended from his duties until a final decision in the case has been reached by the Constitutional Court.

The court has 180 days to decide whether to remove Lee from his post or to reinstate him.

Two presidents have been impeached: Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 and Park Geun-hye in 2016. The Constitutional Court rejected Roh’s impeachment after 64 days, but upheld Park’s and removed her from office after 92 days.

However, the court took 267 days to reject an impeachment motion against Lim Seong-geun, a former Busan High Court judge who was accused and later acquitted of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

The Constitutional Court may take longer than 180 days to reach a decision regarding the interior minister's impeachment motion, given that justices Lee Seon-ae and Lee Suk-tae are due to retire from the nine-member bench in March and April.

A minimum of seven justices are required to participate in the court's decision-making process.

The Constitutional Court Act stipulates that requests for impeachment should be “well-grounded” for an official to be removed from office by the court.

Although police in January referred 23 people to prosecutors for criminal negligence in the Itaewon disaster, they did not hold the interior minister or police chief accountable for any charges.

Given the police decision to not refer Lee for criminal prosecution, it remains to be seen if the court finds the impeachment motion against him to be supported by evidence.

Although one of the impeachment charges against former president Park Geun-hye included her alleged failure to carry out “the duty to protect the right to life and to faithfully carry out presidential responsibilities” in the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry, the Constitutional Court held that “a crisis does not give rise to specific duties to act, such that the President must participate in rescue efforts directly.”

In that case, the court ruled that the constitutional duty to “faithfully carry out responsibilities” is “a relative and abstract duty” that cannot be adjudged in an impeachment proceeding.

The presidential office slammed the impeachment motion against Lee in a brief statement after it passed, calling it a shameful episode in parliamentary history.

“It's an abandonment of parliamentarism,” the statement said. “It will go down in parliamentary history as a shame.”

The government and People Power Party have argued that Lee did not violate the law or Constitution in his response to the crowd crush.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]