與 "Impeachment of Sangmin Lee, Chaos is the Responsibility of the Democratic Party... The True Face of Parliamentary Dictatorship"

Emphasizing Non-Compliance with Impeachment Requirements
Mentioning Previous Presidential Cases

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] The People Power Party raised their voices in criticism, saying "the confusion is the responsibility of the Democratic Party," regarding the impeachment motion against Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, proposed by the Democratic Party and two other opposition parties. They particularly emphasized that the motion does not meet the requirements for impeachment.

On the morning of the 7th, Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, stated at a floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly, "If the impeachment motion proposed as the party's official stance by the Democratic Party is dismissed, the resulting confusion and consequences should be fully borne by the Democratic Party."

He continued, "There is no disagreement that the Itaewon tragedy is a heartbreaking disaster that must never happen again, but the minister's impeachment is a different matter," explaining, "The special police investigation did not reveal any particular charges against the minister, and no serious legal violations in the execution of his duties have been found."

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending and speaking at the party's strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 7th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Joo also said, "Although the Minister of the Interior and Safety oversees disaster safety management, emergency rescue support during safety accidents and disasters falls under the jurisdiction of autonomous police, and the minister has no authority to command the police or the National Fire Agency," emphasizing, "While some of the minister's remarks after the tragedy may be considered inappropriate, they cannot be regarded as serious legal violations."

Joo refuted the Democratic Party's logic by citing past cases. He said, "The Constitutional Court dismissed the impeachment motion against former President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004, stating that if all minor legal violations due to official acts were grounds for dismissal, it would violate the principle of balancing legal interests, and that impeachment petitions apply only in cases of serious legal violations. It also ruled that political incompetence or errors in policy decisions cannot be grounds for impeachment," adding, "In the 2017 impeachment trial of former President Park Geun-hye, while the impeachment was upheld, the court ruled that the president's faithful execution of duties during the seven hours related to the Sewol ferry incident, as claimed by the Democratic Party at the time, was not subject to impeachment judgment."

At the meeting, Sung Il-jong, chairman of the Policy Committee, also criticized, "Since when did the responsibility of the majority party become to frequently bring up the impeachment of cabinet members and obstruct the government chosen by the people?" He pointed out, "For the Democratic Party, the 'impeachment' card is nothing but the ugly face of parliamentary dictatorship, flaunting the power to obstruct the government chosen by the people and arbitrarily overturn national administration."

Sung even mentioned the impeachment of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party. He said, "To gain the people's trust, they should first address their own flaws," and added, "Shouldn't the Democratic Party start by impeaching their leader, who is under criminal suspicion, to have legitimacy?"

Lee Man-hee, the ruling party's secretary of the Administrative Safety Committee and the ruling party secretary of the 'Itaewon Tragedy Special Committee for National Investigation,' claimed that the Democratic Party's actions amounted to "refusal to accept the presidential election results." Lee said, "Not only are they obstructing the president who is correcting the abnormal state of governance during the Democratic Party's five-year rule, but they are also intimidating the Yoon Seok-yeol administration by firing warning shots of impeachment," pointing out, "This is a rejection of the president elected by the people and is tantamount to refusing to accept the presidential election results."