Im Seong-geun Judge Impeachment Proposal Passed (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporters Jeon Jinyoung and Park Juni] For the first time in constitutional history, a motion to impeach a judge was passed in the National Assembly.

On the afternoon of the 4th, Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok announced the passage of the impeachment motion against Im Seong-geun, Chief Judge of the High Court, with 179 votes in favor, 102 against, 3 abstentions, and 4 invalid votes out of 288 members present at the plenary session. Judge Im is accused of illegally intervening in the Sewol ferry trial held during the Park Geun-hye administration.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The People Power Party, which had expressed a negative stance on Judge Im’s impeachment, opposed the motion by holding hand placards reading “Hasty Impeachment Judicial Collapse” and “Bogus Impeachment Judicial Takeover,” and made procedural speeches. However, when Speaker Park finally declared the motion passed, they shouted slogans such as “Impeach the liar Kim Myung-soo” and left the chamber. Earlier, the number of lawmakers who signed the impeachment motion was 161, exceeding the required quorum of 151, making the passage expected.

Lee Tan-hee, a Democratic Party lawmaker who was the chief proposer of the impeachment motion, explained the purpose of the motion during the proposal, saying, “The accused used his position as the Chief Criminal Judge with judicial administrative authority to illegally intervene in the case of Kato Tatsuya, former Seoul bureau chief of Sankei Shimbun, known as the ‘Sewol Ferry 7 Hours’ trial.”

He added, “The core of this impeachment is not only to punish the accused but to punish the unconstitutional act itself,” and pointed out, “Unpunished acts will inevitably be repeated, and our National Assembly’s dereliction of duty has contributed to judicial corruption.”

He then earnestly appealed, “For today, I sincerely ask all party lawmakers to overwhelmingly approve the motion so that the public can see that we are properly fulfilling the constitutional duties entrusted to the National Assembly.”

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