[Editorial] The first impeachment of a government minister

A motion to impeach Interior Minister Lee Sang-min passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on Wednesday. The motion proposed by three opposition parties, including the majority Democratic Party (DP), was approved with 179 in favor of the impeachment, 109 opposing it and five casting invalid votes. After the vote, Lee was immediately suspended from his job as minister.

An administrative void is unavoidable until the Constitutional Court reaches a final verdict on the impeachment within 180 days. Two past motions to impeach the president were passed in the legislature before, but a minister-level impeachment is a first. The political confrontation between the DP holding 169 seats in the 300-member legislature and the governing People Power Party (PPP) will certainly be fiercer than ever before. The presidential office and the PPP criticized the impeachment for adding another “shameful chapter in the history of our legislature.”

The motion led by the DP was controversial from the beginning. Rep. Park Hong-geun, DP floor leader, attributed it to a government minister “showing no regret and taking no responsibility even after the deaths of 159 precious lives.” He said the opposition has the responsibility to “hold the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and minister Lee accountable for the tragedy, on behalf of the people.” But the question is whether Lee really violated the law or the Constitution while serving as interior minister. Even in the DP, a dispute arose over whether he violated the law seriously enough to be impeached.

At an internal meeting on Thursday, some DP lawmakers expressed fears about a possible backlash from the rush to impeach with less than 14 months left before the parliamentary elections next year. Rep. Jung Sung-ho, a close aide to DP Chair Lee Jae-myung, said that if the Constitutional Court finds the minister not guilty, it only helps clear all the allegations against the minister.

Rep. Chung Jin-suk, acting head of the PPP, lambasted the DP for “trying to defend Chairman Lee” through the impeachment of the minister. (Lee is currently under investigation for a plethora of allegations against him.) If the DP did impeach the minister out of political motivation, it must be blamed.

But the PPP is not free from accountability, either. Despite repeated warnings before the disaster, the national safety control system did not work. Many people still don’t understand why no top officials take responsibility for their lethargic response to the tragedy. When asked by a DP lawmaker what’s the reason for the families’ persistent demand for his withdrawal, the minister said he cannot know “because I haven’t met them in person.” What he needs is humility and sincerity, not legal or political logic as a government official. He should know better now.