Park Sung-jae "Did I commit treason... Unfair impeachment accusation"

Government Interpellation on Education, Society, and Culture

On the 16th, Park Seong-jae, Minister of Justice, stated regarding the National Assembly's impeachment motion against him, "If I had not been suspended from my duties, I would have worked hard for four months, so I felt very unfair."

Minister of Justice Park Seong-jae attended the National Assembly plenary session on the 16th, where questions on education, social, and cultural issues were being conducted, and responded to questions from Baek Hye-ryeon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

On the same day, Park appeared at a government questioning session on education, society, and culture held at the National Assembly. When Baek Hye-ryeon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said that "you failed to fulfill your role as a minister," he rebutted, "Did I commit treason? Can you impeach without evidence?"

When Representative Baek added, "Considering the legal interpretation of the treason charges against Minister Park, it does not seem like he performed well," Park responded, "Can you impeach without evidence just because of that?"

Earlier, on December 12 last year, the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against Park citing reasons such as ▲ refusal to submit materials to the National Assembly ▲ involvement in the president's declaration of emergency martial law ▲ leaving during a plenary session of the National Assembly. However, on the 10th of this month, the Constitutional Court unanimously dismissed the motion with all eight justices in agreement. Accordingly, Park immediately resumed his duties 119 days after the impeachment motion.

Regarding media reports that Acting President and Prime Minister Han Deok-su submitted a written opinion to the Constitutional Court claiming that "the Constitutional Court just announced the appointment of justices but did not designate them," Park dismissed the reports, saying, "It is inappropriate to comment based on speculation without seeing the documents."

He added, "There is no clear provision in the constitution regarding the scope of authority of the acting president, and there are various opinions. Even looking at the Constitutional Court's ruling, the acting president's authority to do certain things or not has not been clearly determined."

When asked whether he respects the Constitutional Court's decision concerning the National Assembly's request for a provisional suspension of the effect of the nominations of constitutional court justice candidates Lee Wan-gyu and Ham Sang-hoon by Acting President Han, he replied, "I believe the Constitutional Court's decision should be respected as it is."