South Korea Parliament approves impeachment motions against Justice Minister and Police Chief News
AnbyG, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
South Korea Parliament approves impeachment motions against Justice Minister and Police Chief

The South Korean Parliament approved the impeachment motions against the Justice Minister and Police Chief for their involvement in the planning and execution of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law decree at the 2nd plenary session of the 419th National Assembly on Thursday. Additionally, the parliament approved new laws to appoint two special prosecutors to thoroughly investigate Yoon’s martial law declaration and the stock manipulation incident of Yoon’s spouse, Kim Kun-hee. 

The impeachment motion for Justice Minister, Park Sung Jae, was brought on claims of rebellion for failing to question the constitutionality of Yoon’s martial law decree and not actively stop its enforcement. A separate motion against National Police Agency Commissioner, Cho Ji-ho, was brought on claims of committing rebellion by deploying police forces to the parliament after martial law was announced. Local media has reported that Cho was arrested on Wednesday and the action for sending police forces to the National Assembly is being investigated as a criminal matter.  

To investigate the truth, the “Act on the Appointment of a Special Prosecutor to Investigate the Truth about the Internal Rebellion through the Unconstitutional Martial Law Declaration by the Yoon Seok-Yeol Government” and the “Act on the Appointment of a Special Prosecutor to Investigate the Truth about the Stock Price Manipulation Case of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s Spouse Kim Kun-hee” are enacted under the Act on the Appointment of Independent Prosecutor. The laws stipulate the appointment and duties of special independent prosecutors to investigate the truth. Under Article 3 (Procedure for Appointment of Special Prosecutors), the president must approve the appointment among recommended candidates. However, if the president does not approve within two days of receiving the recommendation, the oldest of the recommended candidates will be considered. 

President Yoon had previously defended his declaration of martial law as an act of governance that does not amount to rebellion and cannot be the subject of investigations. The allegations of insurrection and treason under Article 84 of the South Korean Constitution prevent the president from enjoying immunity from prosecution during his tenure of office. Under such allegations, Yoon can be questioned and detained by investigative agencies over his martial law decree. However, the Presidential Security Service blocked the police from entering the presidential office as part of an investigation into the martial law decision.

The new prosecution laws have confirmed a wider scope of the special prosecutors’ power to carry out investigative activities in several law enforcement authorities including the Military and the Presidential Security Service. Authorities cannot refuse or obstruct the collection of evidence necessary for investigation or trial, such as seizure, search, or verification, under the National Intelligence Service Act and the Military Secrets Protection Act.  

Following the lift of the martial law decree and Yoon’s apology for causing chaos, the National Assembly filed impeachment motions against the president and other government officials including Defense Minister, Kim Hyun who has now resigned. Even though President Yoon had survived the impeachment attempt, South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) issued a travel ban on President Yoon. 

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