[Impeachment of Yoon Seok-yeol] Opposition's Lee Yong-woo: "Such an unfortunate constitutional history must never be repeated"

"The Will of the People Who Strived for the Restoration of Democracy"

Lee Yong-woo, a member of the National Assembly impeachment prosecution team from the Democratic Party of Korea, said immediately after the dismissal of former President Yoon Seok-yeol, "We will ensure that such an unfortunate constitutional history never repeats."

On the 4th, through his Facebook, Lee said, "This impeachment is the result of the sovereign people's will who rushed to the National Assembly to block the martial law troops as soon as the emergency martial law rebellion occurred, and who wished for the restoration of constitutional order and worked hard for the recovery of democracy at the rally sites and in daily life."

Lee Yong-woo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is reading a statement at a press conference held on the 24th of last month in front of the main gate of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, urging the Constitutional Court to set a date for the impeachment trial verdict of President Yoon. Photo by Yonhap News

Regarding the impeachment of former President Yoon, he pointed out, "It was a natural dismissal and necessary for the restoration of democracy, but as a result, South Korea has experienced the misfortune of having its president impeached twice in eight years, following 2017." He continued, "It leads to deep reflection on why our constitutional order and current system could not prevent the president's arbitrary actions and unconstitutional acts in advance, and why the president of South Korea had no choice but to be impeached again. The People Power Party, which produced two impeached presidents, must offer a sincere apology before the people." He added, "Although it took a long time, I would like to express my gratitude to the eight constitutional court justices for their wise judgment."

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court held the impeachment trial verdict for former President Yoon at 11 a.m. in the grand courtroom on the same day and unanimously accepted the impeachment by all eight constitutional court justices. This came 122 days after former President Yoon declared the emergency martial law on December 3, and 111 days after the impeachment motion was filed on December 14 last year. The Constitutional Court recognized all five reasons for impeachment submitted by the National Assembly and concluded that there were serious unconstitutional and illegal acts warranting the dismissal of the president. This impeachment trial set a new record for the longest duration in both the entire trial period and the deliberation period after the conclusion of arguments among presidential cases.