140 Colleagues of Im Seong-geun... Collective Statement: "Kim Myeong-su's Impeachment Comes First"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Colleagues from the Judicial Research and Training Institute of Lim Seong-geun, Chief Judge of the Busan High Court, have issued a statement declaring that "the impeachment of Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su must precede." This collective statement addresses the false explanations given by Chief Justice Kim during the passage of the National Assembly's impeachment motion against Chief Judge Lim.

According to the legal community on the 5th, over 140 legal professionals from the 17th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute released a statement titled "Our Position on the Impeachment of Judge Lim Seong-geun."

They stated, "The court has already acquitted Chief Judge Lim on the grounds that his actions do not constitute the crime of abuse of authority or obstruction of the exercise of rights," and added, "Despite the acquittal in the criminal trial stating that the actions were not criminal, lawmakers from the ruling coalition have unprecedentedly initiated an impeachment motion against a frontline judge in constitutional history."

They continued, "We do not believe that the lawmakers' attempt to impeach Judge Lim stems from a patriotic sense of duty to protect the constitutional order of this country," and explained, "The true reason behind their push for impeachment is their dissatisfaction with several recent rulings, using intimidation of judges to bring the judiciary under control."

They also expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling coalition lawmakers, stating, "They have committed outrageous legislative acts by exploiting their numerical superiority," and claimed, "They say that as elected officials, unelected judges should not dare to oppose them."

Regarding Chief Justice Kim, they said, "As the head of the judiciary, he should have protected judicial independence more than anyone else, but instead, he was preoccupied with appeasing the political sphere, abandoning his affiliated judges to be caught in the whirlpool of unjust political impeachment," and added, "He even lied by denying the content of conversations with Judge Lim, despite being the Chief Justice of the country." They continued, "When the audio recordings were released, he resorted to excuses such as the events being old and his memory being inaccurate," and emphasized, "Such behavior has undermined the authority of the court and caused many judges to feel humiliation and self-loathing. The person who should be impeached is not Judge Lim but Chief Justice Kim."

Meanwhile, allegations arose that Chief Justice Kim rejected Chief Judge Lim's resignation last May, citing the National Assembly's discussion on the judge's impeachment. The Supreme Court stated, "Chief Justice Kim never said that he could not accept the resignation due to the impeachment issue," but after the release of the recording by Chief Judge Lim's side revealed the fact, the Supreme Court changed its position, saying, "We relied on unclear memories from nine months ago."