Constitutional Court receives impeachment resolution

Politics

Published: 09 Feb. 2023, 18:22 Updated: 09 Feb. 2023, 18:45

Constitutional Court receives impeachment resolution

Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min leaves his residence in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, Thursday afternoon, a day after the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion suspending him from his duties. [NEWS1]

The National Assembly submitted an impeachment resolution against Interior Minister Lee Sang-min to the Constitutional Court on Thursday, an issue continuing to polarize the main opposing parties.

This comes a day after the Democratic Party (DP)-controlled parliament passed an impeachment motion against Lee to hold the minister responsible for the government's handling of the deadly Itaewon crowd crush on Oct. 29.

It was the first time ever for the National Assembly to impeach a sitting Cabinet member.

According to the Constitutional Court Act, the court has 180 days to make a decision from the date it receives the case.

On Wednesday, the liberal DP, which holds a 169-seat majority in the National Assembly, passed the motion with support from the minor liberal Justice Party and Basic Income Party with 179 in favor and 109 against.

The move was immediately admonished by the conservative People Power Party (PPP) and President Yoon Suk Yeol's office.

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

Depending on the court decision, Lee can either be reinstated or removed from office.

The impeachment resolution was submitted to the Constitutional Court early Thursday morning, confirmed PPP Rep. Kim Do-eup, chair of the National Assembly's legislative and judiciary committee.

As the parliamentary judiciary committee chair, Kim will serve as prosecutor during the impeachment trial. The DP has expressed concern that the lawmaker may act in a partisan way during the proceedings because of his party affiliation.

However, Kim rejected the concern.

"The Constructional Court will make a decision based on evidence submitted by the DP and the response from Minister Lee," Kim told reporters at the National Assembly, adding that there is no room for him to "intervene."

"The absence of the interior minister has left a vacuum in state affairs," said Kim. "It is a loss to the country and could inflict damage on the people."

He encouraged the court to "speed up the trial process in order to minimize the period of the vacuum in state affairs."

Kim added that it is up to the "people to judge if there is concrete and substantive evidence that the Cabinet member has violated a law serious enough to be impeached."

The Constitutional Court said it plans to convene a meeting to decide on the presiding justice and trial method.

In the past, the court took two or three months to rule on presidential impeachments. A ruling to reject the impeachment of former President Roh Moo-hyun was reached in 64 days in 2004, and a ruling to oust former President Park Geun-hye in 2016 was reached in 92 days.

The PPP upped its ante on Thursday when floor leader Joo Ho-young said that the voters will pass "a stern judgment" on the DP in next year's general elections.

PPP interim chief Chung Jin-suk accused the DP of "destroying parliamentarism."

DP floor leader Park Hong-keun in turn said that President Yoon "failed to protect the people" and will "go down in history as an irresponsible leader who abandoned his duty as the nation's top public servant as stipulated by the Constitution."

Presidential officials said they are strengthening cooperation with the Prime Minister's Office to ensure there is no vacuum in state affairs during the period of Lee's suspension.

"We will try to fill any vacuum to relieve some of the worries of the people resulting from the National Assembly's issues," said a senior presidential official Thursday.

The official pointed out, however, that there could be "difficulties" as "realistically, there are areas where there could be limitations, and we will do our best to supplement this."

Such areas that could be impacted include the administration's plans to promote its three major reforms in education, labor and pensions, along with governmental reforms, which would have been overseen by the interior minister, said the official.

The vice interior minister is taking over as acting interior minister during Lee's suspension.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]