Over 40 Assembly Members Gather from 7 AM to 2 PM
Kim Gi-hyeon "Shocked by Confused and Clumsy Warrant Execution Attempts"
Over 40 members of the People Power Party reiterated on the 6th that they would resolutely block the investigation, arrest, and search warrants issued by the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (PCA) against President Yoon Seok-yeol, who is accused of being the ringleader of a rebellion.
Kim Ki-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, met with reporters in front of the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, in the afternoon and said, "The PCA has neither the authority to investigate the president nor the authority to execute an arrest warrant. The illegal warrant is naturally invalid, and its effect has already been lost."
Kim said, "As of today, it has been confirmed that the PCA delegated the entire execution of the warrant to the police, and the police have taken the position that they cannot accept it due to legal defects. This suggests that in handling such a serious matter of detaining and arresting a person, the PCA, police, and prosecution wavered and jumped into the issue without proper legal review, authority, or capability."
He particularly criticized, "It is utterly shocking that a legal professional institution attempted to execute a flawed warrant while wavering and hesitating over detaining the president of the country."
On the 6th, in front of the presidential residence in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Kim Ki-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, along with other party members, expressed their stance on the arrest warrant for President Yoon Seok-yeol, following the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Department's official letter stating that the execution of the arrest warrant for President Yoon would be entrusted to the police. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung
Earlier, Lee Soon-hyung, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Western District Court, issued a search warrant for the presidential residence requested by the PCA on December 31 last year, stating that "exceptions apply to Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Procedure Act." Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Procedure Act stipulate that for military secrets or official duty secrets, seizure and search are only possible with the permission of the responsible person.
Regarding this, Kim said, "A warrant issued by a judge that arbitrarily allows seizure and search of a national security facility without the consent of the manager is absurd and cannot exist. It is naturally invalid. Attempting to extend the execution of such a warrant is illegal and must be decisively blocked," he emphasized.
He continued, "If illegal acts occur again during the process of restoring national order, we will never tolerate it. If investigative agencies are blinded by vanity or ambition and abuse their authority by ignoring due process, we will watch closely and sternly warn that we will hold them accountable to the end."
Na Kyung-won, a member of the People Power Party, claimed, "The Democratic Party of Korea now deleted the charge of rebellion from the impeachment motion and impeached through incitement of rebellion, causing confusion." The parliamentary impeachment group had previously submitted a position to the Constitutional Court withdrawing the charge of rebellion under the Criminal Act from the impeachment reasons against President Yoon. Na said, "It is not about quickly ending everything but about ensuring all procedures comply with the law and upholding the rule of law, which is very important at this time."
Regarding the lawmakers' visit to the presidential residence in Hannam-dong that day, the party leadership stated there was no communication with President Yoon. When asked by reporters if he had spoken or communicated with President Yoon, Kim replied, "I have neither spoken nor met with him. The party leadership did not request us to go to the Hannam-dong residence; individual lawmakers came here based on their own judgment."
When a reporter pointed out that if the PCA transfers the case of President Yoon's rebellion charges to the police, wouldn't President Yoon have to be summoned for questioning, Kim refrained from commenting, saying, "Since the PCA insists on continuing the investigation under their authority, I do not think it is appropriate to make hypothetical judgments."
People Power Party lawmakers gathered in front of the Hannam-dong presidential residence, anticipating a possible re-execution of the arrest and search warrants by the PCA as the execution deadline expired that day, and stayed there for seven hours from 7 a.m.
The People Power Party lawmakers gathered in front of the Hannam-dong residence that day were Kang Dae-sik, Kang Myung-gu, Kang Min-guk, Kang Sun-young, Kang Seung-gyu, Koo Ja-geun, Kwon Young-jin, Kim Ki-hyun, Kim Seok-ki, Kim Seon-kyo, Kim Seung-soo, Kim Wi-sang, Kim Eun-hye, Kim Jang-gyeom, Kim Jeong-jae, Kim Jong-yang, Na Kyung-won, Park Dae-chul, Park Sung-min, Park Sung-hoon, Park Jun-tae, Park Chung-kwon, Seo Il-jun, Seo Cheon-ho, Song Eon-seok, Eom Tae-young, Yoo Sang-beom, Yoon Sang-hyun, Lee Dal-hee, Lee Man-hee, Lee Sang-hwi, Lee In-seon, Lee Jong-wook, Lee Cheol-gyu, Im I-ja, Im Jong-deuk, Jang Dong-hyuk, Jeong Dong-man, Jeong Jeom-sik, Jo Bae-sook, Jo Eun-hee, Jo Ji-yeon, Choi Su-jin, and Choi Eun-seok, totaling 44 members. In addition, about 10 out-of-office party committee chairpersons also visited the residence.
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