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Members of a national council of representative judges leave the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, after their banquet with Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su on Nov. 19. (Baek So-ah, staff photographer)
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Majority of lawmakers already favor impeachment despite conservative opposition
Following a decision on Nov. 19 by a national council of representative judges in South Korean courts (under Hon. Choi Gi-sang, senior judge at the Seoul Northern District Court) that the judicial influence-peddling is a serious violation of the constitution and that the people involved ought to be impeached, public attention is turning to the National Assembly, which has the authority to impeach judges. This is likely to spark a debate about impeachment in the National Assembly, which has been more focused on the question of establishing a special court to try the issue. So far, the argument for impeaching judges connected with the scandal has been made separately by Rep. Cheon Jeong-bae of the Party for Democracy and Peace (Sept. 12); Rep. Lee Jeong-mi of the Justice Party (Oct. 1); and Rep. Hong Yeong-pyo, floor leader of the Democratic Party (Oct. 23). At the same time, others have felt that it was inappropriate for politicians to push for impeachment while the prosecutors’ investigation was still underway. There is growing support inside the ruling party for the view that the council of judges’ resolution is a game changer. Since a bill to create a special court was frustrated by staunch opposition from the Liberty Korea Party and since judicial representatives have argued for impeaching the implicated judges, the National Assembly has plenty of cover to launch a debate about impeachment. “This was a decision that shows how seriously the judiciary is taking this matter. The Democratic Party has seriously considered impeachment, and we’ll make that a reality when it becomes necessary,” Rep. Hong Yeong-pyo said in a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on Nov. 19. The Party for Democracy and Peace and the Justice Party also welcomed the decision by the council of judges. “We regard this as representing the judges’ sincere belief that the judiciary needs to be set right. The impeachment of the judges involved in this scandal is an unavoidable step to set right the judiciary, which is the last bastion of democracy,” said Park Ju-hyeon, senior spokesperson of the Party for Democracy and Peace. “The National Assembly must waste no time in drafting a motion of impeachment and moving into action,” said Jeong Ho-jin, spokesperson for the Justice Party. Conservative parties strongly oppose impeachment of justices But there are strong signs of opposition to impeachment in the conservative opposition parties. “We haven’t gotten a legal judgment that these are the right grounds to impeach the judges. This is a matter that should be considered after the prosecutors’ investigation,” said Yun Yeong-seok, senior spokesperson for the Korea Liberty Party. “With judges choosing sides and denouncing those on the other side as the enemy, people are going to start thinking that even the judiciary is becoming politicized,” said Oh Shin-hwan, first vice floor leader for the Bareunmirae Party. On Nov. 20, the Bareunmirae Party is planning to convene a meeting of lawmakers and establish the party’s position about a motion of impeachment. Impeaching judges easier than impeaching elected president Passing a motion of impeachment isn’t impossible even if the conservative opposition parties are against it. The constitutional requirements for passing a motion of impeachment against judges state that the motion to impeach judges may be proposed by one third of lawmakers and shall require a concurrence of a majority vote. The threshold here is lower than for a motion of impeachment against an elected president, which requires majority support for tabling the motion of impeachment and two-thirds support for passing the motion itself. The seats needed to pass the motion could be secured if the Democratic party (129 seats), the Party for Democracy and Peace (14 seats) and the Justice Party (5 seats) held together and were joined by three members of the Bareunmirae Party who sympathize with the Party for Democracy and Peace (Park Ju-hyeon, Lee Sang-don and Jang Jeong-suk) and independent lawmakers Son Geum-ju, Lee Yong-ho and Mun Hui-sang, speaker of the National Assembly. Since a motion of impeachment is not like an ordinary bill, which requires review by a permanent committee of the National Assembly, it could be brought to a vote in the National Assembly as soon as it’s proposed. If the motion of impeachment against the judges is passed by the National Assembly, Rep. Yeo Sang-gyu, lawmaker with the Liberty Korea Party and chair of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, would serve as the prosecutor who argues the case for impeachment. The impeachment trial would begin as soon as the Constitutional Court has been officially informed that the National Assembly passed the motion of impeachment. The impeached judges would be immediately suspended from their duties on the bench and would then be fired if the at least six of the nine justices on the Constitutional Court find that they committed a serious violation of the Constitution and the laws. The legal establishment believes that the standard for impeaching a judge is less strict than for impeaching a president. If the Court confirms their impeachment, the judges in question would be immediately dismissed and unable to work as lawyers for five years, according to the Attorney-at-Law Act. No judge has been impeached in history of S. Korean government But since the establishment of the South Korean government, not a single judge has ever been impeached, nor has the National Assembly ever passed a motion of impeachment. Motions of impeachment against judges have been brought to a vote twice. The first time was against Yu Tae-heung, Supreme Court chief justice during the presidency of Chun Doo-hwan, who was notorious for making unfair personnel decisions about judges. The second time was against former Supreme Court justice Shin Yeong-cheol, who was accused of unfairly intervening in the trial of people charged in connection with candlelit rallies organized against the importing of US beef. But the motion of impeachment against Yu was voted down, while the motion of impeachment against Shin was scrapped at the close of the National Assembly’s session. The judges who have been mentioned in the courts as the possible subjects of a motion of impeachment include Hon. Kwon Soon-il (59, 14th class at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, or JRTI), a justice on the Supreme Court; Hon. Lee Min-geol (57, 17th class at the JRTI) and Hon. Lee Gyu-jin (56, 18th class at the JRTI), both senior judges at the Seoul High Court; Hon. Jeong Da-ju (42, 31st class at the JRTI), a judge at the Ulsan District Court; Hon. Park Sang-eon (41, 32nd class at the JRTI), a judge at the Changwon District Court; and Hon. Kim Min-su (42, 32nd class at the JRTI), a judge at the Masan Branch Court. By Kim Min-kyoung, Kim Tae-gyu and Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
