Hong Joon-pyo: "Is There a Lee Jae-myung Collaborator Inside the Constitutional Court?"

Mayor Hong Posts on Facebook
Raises Suspicion Regarding 'Yoon's De Facto Withdrawal of Treason Charges'

Regarding the National Assembly's impeachment prosecution team’s decision to effectively withdraw the charge of treason in the impeachment of President Yoon Seok-yeol, Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu, raised suspicions, asking, "Is there a collaborator of Representative Lee Jae-myung inside the Constitutional Court?"

On the 4th, Mayor Hong said this on his Facebook, writing, "Suddenly withdrawing the treason charge must mean they are confident about a swift dismissal decision." He questioned, "Representative Lee Jae-myung doesn’t have much time due to the appellate trial. They had been inciting people to see him as a villain under the treason frame, so what information did they receive to suddenly withdraw the treason charge?" He continued, "Then what happens to Kim Yong-hyun, who was arrested and indicted for following the treason frame, the police leadership, and the generals?" and lamented, "Because of one person’s betrayal of the country, the National Assembly and judicial system of the Republic of Korea are becoming a complete mess."

Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo is speaking at the year-end press conference held at the Sangyeok Office of Daegu City Hall in Buk-gu, Daegu, on the afternoon of the 26th of last month. Photo by Yonhap News

On the previous day, Mayor Hong also said, "The entire nation rises up against the president’s abuse of emergency martial law powers, but why is there silence regarding Lee Jae-myung’s abuse of the impeachment prosecution right?" and added, "The country is heading toward anarchy due to the abuse of the impeachment prosecution right." He said, "It has been two years and six months since the country has been led by a hostile symbiotic relationship. One side is clamoring for punishment, and the other is making a last desperate effort to seize power," and asked, "Is this a normal country?"

In another post on the same day, Mayor Hong commented on the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Unit (Gong-su-cheo) attempting to execute an arrest warrant against President Yoon, saying, "The warrant was invalid from the start, tainted by judicial abuse of authority." He wrote, "Please refrain from reckless investigations exploiting crowd psychology and proceed with the investigation only after completing the impeachment process, as was done during Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. That is the intent of Article 51 of the Constitutional Court Act." He added, "It is truly regrettable that even judges are swept up in collective hysteria."

Meanwhile, on the 3rd, the Democratic Party of Korea announced that they would remove the treason charge cited as grounds for President Yoon’s impeachment in the Constitutional Court trial. The Democratic Party said, "This is for the sake of a swift judgment." In response, President Yoon’s side and the People Power Party argued that the National Assembly vote should be held again.