'The Time of the Constitutional Court' Has Come... How Will President Yoon's Legal Team Be Composed? [Impeachment Q&A]

Proxy Team Expected to Be Formed Centered on Former Broadcasting Commissioner Kim Hong-il

Yonhap News

As the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol passed the National Assembly, the formation of President Yoon's legal defense team is also expected to accelerate. Centered around former Broadcasting and Communications Commission Chairman Kim Hong-il, who is strongly considered as the head of the defense team, a large number of lawyers with prosecutorial backgrounds and personal connections to President Yoon are expected to be included in the legal representatives.

According to the legal community on the 14th, President Yoon is reportedly exploring the formation of a defense team mainly composed of legal professionals he is acquainted with, including former prosecutor and former Broadcasting and Communications Commission Chairman Kim.

Former Chairman Kim served as the chairman of the Special Committee for Investigating Political Manipulation during Yoon Suk-yeol's presidential campaign. After President Yoon's inauguration, he consecutively served as the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and the Broadcasting and Communications Commission. He completed his term as Broadcasting and Communications Commission Chairman in July this year and returned to the law firm Sejong at the end of October. It is said that he verbally expressed his intention to resign to Sejong earlier this month.

In addition to former Chairman Kim, President Yoon's side reportedly proposed representation to lawyer A, a former administrative officer of the Presidential Legal Secretary's Office under the current administration. Lawyer A also defended First Lady Kim Keon-hee in the luxury handbag receipt case.

In the case of former President Park Geun-hye's impeachment trial, about 20 lawyers were formed as the presidential legal representatives.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 14th. The approval of an impeachment motion against a sitting president is the third in constitutional history, following former President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 and former President Park Geun-hye in 2016. The impeachment motion against President Yoon was passed in the plenary session held in the afternoon with all 300 members of the National Assembly present, with 204 votes in favor, 85 against, 3 abstentions, and 8 invalid votes. To pass the impeachment motion, two-thirds (200 members) of the total members must vote in favor, and the 204 votes in favor exceeded the required quorum.

Considering that 192 members of the opposition expressed support for the impeachment, it appears that 12 members of the ruling People Power Party, which maintained a 'rejection party line,' defected to vote in favor. It is also estimated that the 11 abstentions and invalid votes came from the People Power Party.