[Breaking] Impeachment Motion Against Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae Rejected...179 Opposed

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae is attending the government questioning session on politics, diplomacy, unification, and security at the National Assembly plenary session on the 22nd, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Wondara and Lim Chunhan] The impeachment motion against Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae was rejected.

Park Byeong-seok, Speaker of the National Assembly, stated at the plenary session held on the afternoon of the 23rd, "The vote on the 'Impeachment motion against Minister of Justice (Choo Mi-ae)' resulted in 109 votes in favor, 179 against, and 4 invalid votes out of 292 members present, thus the motion was rejected."

The impeachment motion against Minister Choo, jointly proposed by the United Future Party and the People's Party, was reported to the National Assembly plenary session at 10 a.m. on the 21st. The impeachment motion is subject to a secret ballot vote between 24 hours and 72 hours after being reported to the plenary session. The United Future Party had also proposed an impeachment motion against Minister Choo in January, but the motion was automatically dismissed as the plenary session was not held within 72 hours.

United Future Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin explained the reason for proposing the motion ahead of the vote, saying, "Excluding her from duty during the investigation of collusion between the prosecution and the media was an illegal abuse of power by Choo Mi-ae. She damaged the dignity and honor of the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution by criticizing the Prosecutor General in official settings." She added, "The impeachment motion was proposed because it is clear that she violated Article 7 of the Constitution, Article 34 of the Prosecution Service Act, Articles 7, 8, and 12 of the National Public Service Act, Article 63 of the Criminal Act, and Article 123 of the Criminal Act."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.