"Not Subject to Petition under National Assembly Act and Petition Act"
"Democratic Party Always Sings Impeachment Anthem Whenever They Speak"
Choo Kyung-ho, floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized the opposition party's push to hold a hearing in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee regarding the public petition demanding the impeachment of President Yoon Seok-yeol, calling it a "nonsense petition."
Chu Kyung-ho, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the party's strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 9th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@
At a floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 9th, Floor Leader Choo said, "The Democratic Party has revealed its ambition to impeach the president sooner than expected. This petition should neither be accepted nor processed."
The petition cited five reasons for President Yoon's impeachment: ▲alleged investigation interference involving former Marine Corps Investigation Unit Chief Park Jung-hoon ▲allegations of bribery, stock manipulation, and corruption involving the president and his family ▲provocation of war crisis ▲third-party compensation for forced labor under Japanese rule ▲and aiding the ocean dumping of contaminated water from Fukushima. Floor Leader Choo pointed out why these five reasons cannot be grounds for the petition.
He stated, "According to Article 123, Paragraph 4 of the National Assembly Act, petitions containing content that insults state institutions shall not be accepted," adding, "Since the president is a constitutional state institution, petitions containing content that insults the president should not be accepted."
He continued, "Article 6 of the Petition Act specifies that petitions concerning matters under investigation, audit, trial, administrative adjudication, mediation, or arbitration under other laws are exceptions to petition processing," and emphasized, "According to Article 3 of the National Assembly Petition Review Rules regarding notification of non-acceptance, the Speaker shall not accept petitions that fall under exceptions specified in Article 6 of the Petition Act. Therefore, this petition, which involves matters under investigation, should not be legally accepted by the Speaker." The allegations of investigation interference related to the Chae Sang-byeong case, cited as the first reason for impeachment, and the corruption allegations cited as the second reason are currently under investigation and thus cannot be subjects of a petition under the Petition Act.
Floor Leader Choo said, "The remaining impeachment reasons are nonsense as well. It is the Kim Jong-un regime of North Korea that provokes war crises and threatens peace through provocations such as balloon leaflets, not the Yoon Seok-yeol administration," adding, "The Yoon administration pursues peace through strength and has responded to North Korea's illegal gambling activities in accordance with international law." He further remarked, "The person leading this petition has five prior convictions for violating the National Security Act, so it is understandable why such claims are being made," and questioned, "I wonder if Democratic Party lawmakers have even properly read this petition."
Additionally, Floor Leader Choo appealed, "If such a nonsensical petition is discussed in the sacred National Assembly, it would be a comedy on the world stage," and urged, "The Democratic Party keeps shouting impeachment as if it were their favorite song 18 times, but now they should change their anthem from impeachment to people’s livelihood."
The National Assembly’s public consent petition system requires that a bill petition receiving the consent of 50,000 people within 30 days be referred to the relevant standing committee of the National Assembly. The petition requesting the National Assembly to propose the impeachment of President Yoon began on the 20th of last month and, as of this date, has garnered the support of over 1.3 million citizens.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
