The Democratic Party Files Jurisdictional Dispute and Seeks Suspension of Effect for Han Deok-su's Impeachment

Joo Jin-woo "Applying Quorum to Acting President is Unconstitutional"
Han Duck-soo Accepts Suspension... Choi Sang-mok Becomes Acting President

On the 27th, the People Power Party filed a constitutional dispute trial and requested a provisional suspension of effect after the National Assembly plenary session passed the impeachment motion against Acting President and Prime Minister Han Deok-su, led by the opposition party.

Yonhap News

Joo Jin-woo, the party's legal advisory committee chairman, stated in a press release that day, "Regarding the respondent, the Speaker of the National Assembly's act of declaring the approval of the Prime Minister's impeachment motion submitted to the plenary session and delivering the impeachment resolution to Acting President Han, the People Power Party has filed a constitutional dispute trial and requested a provisional suspension of effect."

He continued, "The grounds for impeachment against Acting President Han do not meet the constitutional requirements for impeachment, and the grounds themselves do not constitute any legal or constitutional violations," emphasizing, "Actions such as recommending the exercise of the veto power on bills as Prime Minister, opposing the deliberation of emergency martial law in the State Council, and withholding the appointment of constitutional court justices as Acting President were duties lawfully performed according to the Constitution and laws and cannot be considered grounds for impeachment."

Joo added, "Despite Acting President Han holding the position of Acting President of the Republic, the respondent (Speaker of the National Assembly) did not apply the heightened impeachment quorum equivalent to that of the President for the impeachment motion, which is a serious unconstitutional interpretation," and "Such actions by the respondent infringe upon the petitioners' rights to deliberate and vote on the impeachment motion and damage the people's representative rights." He further explained, "The respondent's actions are fundamentally invalid and severely infringe upon the petitioners' people's representative rights and their rights to deliberate and vote on the impeachment motion," and "These acts violate the Constitution and the National Assembly Act, necessitating a declaration of invalidity and suspension of effect."

The People Power Party filed the constitutional dispute trial and requested a provisional suspension of effect in the names of all 108 party members. In the plenary session held at the National Assembly that afternoon, the impeachment motion against Acting President Han was passed. The ruling and opposition parties had been at odds over whether the impeachment motion required the consent of a majority of all members or a two-thirds majority to pass. Speaker Woo Won-shik stated before the vote that only a majority consent was necessary, leading to the impeachment motion against Acting President Han passing solely with opposition party votes. Acting President Han also suspended his duties and decided to await the Constitutional Court's decision. Subsequently, Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, is expected to act as the President's authority.