People Power Party Lawmakers Flock to Constitutional Court... "Repeated Inadequate Deliberations, Prejudged Speed Race"

36 People Power Party Lawmakers Protest at Constitutional Court
Call for Protection of Respondent's Rights by Applying Criminal Procedure Act

On the 17th, 36 members of the People Power Party visited the Constitutional Court, which is currently conducting the impeachment trial of President Yoon Seok-yeol, and criticized, "Instead of demonstrating the utmost seriousness and unwavering fairness at the highest level of the law, the court is repeatedly conducting inadequate hearings and is only focused on a predetermined rapid process."

Kim Ki-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, read a statement on behalf of the group during the protest visit to the Constitutional Court in the afternoon, saying, "We have come to the Constitutional Court today to condemn the unfair and biased behavior of the court and to vividly convey the voices of anger from the people who are protesting the court's unfairness every day in the streets and squares despite the cold winter weather." He added, "It is hard to imagine another Constitutional Court that shakes constitutional values and destroys its own authority like this."

Kim stated, "In the impeachment case against President Yoon, the court unilaterally scheduled eight rapid-fire hearing dates without any consultation with the president's legal team, and, as if in collusion with the Democratic Party, induced the withdrawal of the charge of rebellion, which was central to the impeachment accusation." He criticized, "The court illegally deprived the president of the constitutional basic right to participate in witness examinations by using the excuse of 'case management authority' based on subordinate laws, and during this serious trial of presidential impeachment, limited the witness examination time to only 90 minutes and even used a stopwatch."

On the 17th, in front of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, ruling party lawmakers including Kim Ki-hyun, Na Kyung-won, and Yoon Sang-hyun held a press conference before meeting with the Secretary General of the Constitutional Court to urge the minimum defense rights guarantee for President Yoon Seok-yeol and to condemn unfairness. 2025.02.17 Photo by Yoon Dong-ju

He continued, "Circumstantial evidence is increasingly revealing that the so-called 'arrest list memo,' which was essentially the trigger for the impeachment, lacks credibility. There have been witness contradictions, false testimonies, and even allegations of witness tampering by the Democratic Party." He emphasized, "Although it is only natural to verify the authenticity of contaminated evidence and false evidence created through tampering, the Constitutional Court is ignoring even this and seems to be rushing forward as if the conclusion has already been decided."

They urged compliance with the provisions applying the Criminal Procedure Act, rejection of the admissibility of contaminated and expert evidence, and the conduct of lawful and fair evidence investigation procedures in relation to the impeachment trial. They argued that restrictions on President Yoon's participation in witness examinations and the acceptance of prosecution interrogation records of those involved in the December 3 emergency martial law excessively infringe on the defendant's rights under the 2020 amended Criminal Procedure Act. They also demanded the prioritization of the impeachment quorum dispute trial case concerning Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and the dismissal of the authority dispute trial against constitutional court nominee Ma Eun-hyuk. Na Kyung-won, a member of the People Power Party, also urged the Constitutional Court to "respect the rule of law in the Republic of Korea and return to objective legal conscience."