Impeachment Motion Against Audit Board Chairman and Three Prosecutors Passed in National Assembly Plenary Session... Suspension of Duties

Opposition Party: "Board of Audit and Inspection Chief, Favorable Audit for Current Government"
Ruling Party: "Democratic Party's Tyranny and Frenzied Rampage Repeated"

The opposition party forcibly passed the impeachment motions against Audit Board Chairman Choi Jae-hae and Seoul Central District Prosecutor Lee Chang-soo at the National Assembly plenary session. The ruling party condemned the opposition's impeachment of the Audit Board Chairman and prosecutors and did not participate in the vote.

On the 5th, the National Assembly held a plenary session and passed the impeachment motion against Chairman Choi with 188 votes in favor, 4 against, out of 192 members present. Additionally, the impeachment motion against Prosecutor Lee received 185 votes in favor, 3 against, and 4 invalid votes; for Deputy Chief Prosecutor Cho Sang-won of Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, 187 votes in favor, 4 against, and 1 invalid vote; and for Chief of the Anti-Corruption Division 2, Choi Jae-hoon, 186 votes in favor, 4 against, and 2 invalid votes, all of which passed. Chairman Choi, Prosecutor Lee, and others will be suspended from their duties after the delivery of the impeachment resolution by the National Assembly. The People Power Party did not attend the vote in protest of the impeachment motions.

The passage of the impeachment motion against the Audit Board Chairman is the first in constitutional history. The opposition claims that Chairman Choi is subject to impeachment because he abandoned the independent status of the Audit Board by stating at the July 2022 National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee meeting that "the Audit Board is an institution supporting the president's state administration." They also argue that the Audit Board targets audits against the previous administration while giving lenient audits to the current government. On the day of the vote, Lee Sung-yoon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "Chairman Choi denied the independence of the Audit Board," and added, "The audits related to the presidential office and residence relocation were consistently poor audits."

On the 5th, at the plenary session held in the National Assembly, the impeachment motion against Lee Chang-su, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, was passed with 185 votes in favor, 3 against, and 4 invalid out of a total of 192 votes. Members of the ruling party were absent.

The opposition believes that Prosecutor Lee and other prosecutors gave lenient investigations regarding the stock manipulation allegations involving First Lady Kim Keon-hee and Deutsche Motors. Democratic Party lawmaker Jang Kyung-tae said before the vote, "They have fallen from servants of the people to servants of power," and explained, "By deciding not to prosecute Mrs. Kim and giving her a clean bill of health, they committed the greatest crime itself. It is an abuse of prosecutorial authority and dereliction of duty."

The People Power Party protested the opposition-led impeachment attempt. On the same day, Choo Kyung-ho, floor leader of the People Power Party, held a rally at the National Assembly Rotunda condemning the impeachment of the Audit Board Chairman and prosecutors, saying, "The unilateral tyranny and reckless rampage of the Democratic Party, backed by majority power, are repeating," and explained, "This is a petty political retaliation to cut off the hands and feet of the prosecution investigating Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, former President Moon Jae-in, and Democratic Party lawmakers by suspending their duties."