Constitutional Court denies telling Assembly to drop insurrection from impeachment charges against Yoon
Published: 06 Jan. 2025, 18:55
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- MICHAEL LEE
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![The Constitutional Court's deputy spokesperson Cheon Jae-hyun speaks at a press briefing at the court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Jan. 6. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/06/25ab29b0-9cd7-4da3-bfe8-6876f3cdf807.jpg)
The Constitutional Court's deputy spokesperson Cheon Jae-hyun speaks at a press briefing at the court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Jan. 6. [NEWS1]
The Constitutional Court issued a strongly worded denial on Monday against accusations that it told the National Assembly to remove the charge of insurrection from the allegations listed in the legislature’s impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The remarks by the court’s deputy spokesperson, Cheon Jae-hyun, came after the conservative People Power Party (PPP) suggested that the Assembly moved to drop the insurrection charge on the advice of the court to make Yoon’s removal from office easier.
“No such thing happened,” Cheon said, adding that “how the reasons for impeachment will be reviewed in relation to one another is a decision to be made entirely by the bench.”
The National Assembly’s impeachment investigation committee, which is made up of 11 lawmakers from the liberal Democratic Party (DP) and its allies as well as 17 legal experts, recently proposed removing the insurrection charge from the impeachment motion to allow the Constitutional Court to focus on the question of whether Yoon violated the Constitution by declaring martial law on Dec. 3.
The PPP, which is boycotting the committee’s activities, claims that the omission of the insurrection charge undermines the original impeachment motion and necessitates a new motion to be presented for a vote by the legislature.
However, the DP argues the committee’s proposal is similar to changes to the 2017 impeachment motion against then-President Park Geun-hye, which was also modified to focus on her alleged violations of the Constitution rather than the criminal accusations against her.
Led by their floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, a delegation of high-ranking PPP officials visited the court on Monday to lodge a complaint against the modification of the impeachment motion.
![People Power Party floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong speaks outside the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, after visiting the court to lodge a complaint on Jan. 6. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/06/3fe4a8e5-6c51-4df5-aa69-50af05edc872.jpg)
People Power Party floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong speaks outside the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, after visiting the court to lodge a complaint on Jan. 6. [NEWS1]
“The charge of insurrection appears in the first sentence of the impeachment motion and some 38 times thereafter. Changing such a key charge of the motion should result in its invalidation,” Kweon said in remarks to reporters after meeting the court's secretary general, Kim Jeong-won.
Kweon added that he told Kim the court should not allow the Assembly committee to drop the insurrection charge and strike down the impeachment motion.
All eight justices of the Constitutional Court gathered the same day to prepare for the first oral arguments of Yoon’s impeachment trial on Jan. 14, marking their first official meeting since justices Jeong Gye-seon and Cho Han-chang were appointed to the bench last week.
Cheon said the eight justices “were briefed on the conclusion of the preparatory proceedings for Yoon’s impeachment case” and agreed to hold hearings on Tuesday and Thursday every week.
Cheon also confirmed the court’s intention to expedite the president’s impeachment trial.
The court, which held two preparatory hearings on Friday, will hear oral arguments regarding Yoon’s impeachment over five sessions on Jan. 14, 16, 21, 23 and Feb. 4.
The first session of oral arguments is scheduled to place exactly one month after the National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon over his short-lived imposition of martial law in early December.
As Yoon’s attendance at the first session is mandatory, the Presidential Security Service is likely to negotiate with the court to make arrangements to ensure his security.
The Constitutional Court has 180 days from the day it received the National Assembly’s impeachment motion against Yoon to confirm his removal from office or to reinstate him as president.
If his impeachment is upheld, Yoon will be removed from office, and an election to replace him must be held within 60 days of the court’s ruling.
In addition to Yoon’s impeachment motion, the court’s justices are also expected to settle other constitutional questions that arose in the aftermath of his suspension from office.
These include the minimum number of lawmakers required to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the authority of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) to investigate the president over insurrection charges, and the right of acting presidents to appoint justices to the Constitutional Court.
BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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