Hong Jun-pyo: "Yoon's Impeachment, Lee Jae-myung's Conspiracy for Early Presidential Election"

"Despicable Acts by Waning Power"
"Do Not Fall for Incitement, Judge Coolly"
"Experienced Collective Madness During Park Geun-hye Impeachment"

With the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol scheduled for a vote on the 14th, Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City, remarked, "Isn't this a conspiracy to push for an early presidential election?"

On the 11th, Mayor Hong took to his social media account to say, "I once said that the recent declaration of martial law was an unexpected midnight happening." He continued, "I told them to handle it well, but the Democratic Party is packaging this as treason and inciting the public and the media," adding, "I thought, 'Is it right to legally scrutinize a political issue?' so I refrained from commenting for a while, but now I want to point out a few questions."

Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo

He pointed out, "Treason originally aims at usurping power, but can someone already in the presidential office usurp power?" He added, "The authority to declare martial law is a presidential power related to state affairs and a high-level act of governance, which is not subject to judicial review, so can that be considered treason?" He then questioned, "Just because the reason for declaring martial law is deemed inappropriate, does that directly lead to treason?"

Mayor Hong also countered, "The opposition party's more than 20 impeachment motions have paralyzed state affairs," and said, "Even impeaching the prosecutors who investigated themselves is legislative violence and a disruption of the constitutional order." Furthermore, he suspected, "The prosecution, police, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials are competitively launching investigations, which is a despicable act like hyenas attacking a declining power," and questioned, "Isn't the opposition party trying to frame this as treason, like Moon Jae-in's framework of eradicating deep-rooted evils, to drive public opinion toward impeachment?"

He stated, "The current situation resembles the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, but that can only be seen as the consequence of President Yoon and Han Dong-hoon," and added, "The final authority to judge lies not with investigative agencies but constitutionally with the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court." Finally, he emphasized, "The treason frame seems like a judicial risk and a conspiratorial scheme by Lee Jae-myung, who has no time, to push for early presidential elections by making the impeachment succeed," urging, "We must not be swayed by agitation but judge calmly and rationally. We have already experienced collective madness once with the Park Geun-hye impeachment, which was driven by emotional agitation."