Ahead of Sangmin Lee's Impeachment Verdict... Both Ruling and Opposition Parties Expect Dismissal

With "Dismissed Due to No Legal Violation"
Opposition: "Constitutional Court Justices Show Stronger Conservative Tendencies"

The Constitutional Court's decision on June 25 regarding the impeachment of Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Interior and Safety, who was impeached for responsibility in the Itaewon disaster, will be announced. While both ruling and opposition parties predict the dismissal of the impeachment motion, opinions differ on the reasons for dismissal. The opposition criticizes the conservative tendencies of the justices, whereas the ruling party points out the lack of clear legal responsibility.

On the same day, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "I am 100% confident (of dismissal). Impeachment requires legal violations or constitutional breaches," adding, "but there is absolutely no legal violation."

The formal constitutional court hearing for Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Interior and Safety, who was impeached amid controversy over the inadequate response to the Itaewon disaster, was held on the afternoon of the 9th at the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Minister Lee Sang-min is seated, looking at the constitutional justices. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The three opposition parties?the Democratic Party, Justice Party, and Basic Income Party?proposed the impeachment motion against Minister Lee in February, which passed in the plenary session. On February 9, the impeachment motion was delivered to the Constitutional Court, which held four public hearings to hear arguments from both the National Assembly and Minister Lee's side. If the motion is upheld, Minister Lee will be immediately dismissed; if dismissed, he can return to his duties.

Ha said the impeachment motion was merely a political accountability measure without any legal violations, so it would inevitably be dismissed. He stated, "There were problematic remarks at the time, and public sentiment was unfavorable, so they used that as a basis to attack in an inappropriate way," adding, "The Democratic Party did not initially expect the impeachment to pass; they passed it because public opinion was very negative, and holding political responsibility in that way was the wrong approach."

Jang Ye-chan, the youngest supreme council member of the People Power Party, also said on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal,' "Legally, it will obviously be dismissed," adding, "The ruling and opposition parties even agreed to a parliamentary investigation, but no legal violations regarding Minister Lee have emerged."

Within the Democratic Party, voices predicting dismissal also exist, but they argue it is due to the political leanings of the Constitutional Court justices rather than the absence of legal violations. Kim Seung-won, chairman of the Democratic Party's Legal Committee, said on MBC Radio, "If the Constitutional Court justices focus passively only on legal interpretation or strictly on whether there is a serious legal violation in a physical sense, conservative justices are likely to follow that approach and reject the impeachment trial request."

He cited the recent dismissal of the authority dispute over the complete removal of prosecution investigation rights (검수완박) raised by Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, which was decided 5 to 4. He said, "Looking at the previous authority dispute trial request raised by Minister Han, it was a narrow 5 to 4 decision, but I thought it would be at least 6 to 3 or 7 to 2," adding, "Seeing it came out 5 to 4, I think the political leanings of the justices will greatly influence this impeachment as well, which makes me feel very negative."

Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon also said on YTN's 'News King with Park Ji-hoon,' "The Constitutional Court trial has a very strong political trial nature. So, we first analyze the justices' tendencies. Since this government, two justices left and two new ones joined, changing the composition from a progressive majority to a moderate-conservative majority," adding, "If you exclude the moderates, roughly it is moderate-conservative 5, progressive 4, but impeachment requires 6 votes," and predicted dismissal.

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