Constitutional Court Dismisses Impeachment Trial of Minister Lee Sang-min... Unanimous Decision Including Judges Appointed by Moon Administration

All Judges: "No Violation of Disaster Safety Act... Minister Cannot Be Held Responsible"
Judges Kim Ki-young, Moon Hyung-bae, Lee Mi-sun, and Jung Jung-mi: "Some Remarks After the Disaster Constitute Violation of Dignity"

The constitutional court dismissed the impeachment petition against Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, who was impeached for responsibility over the October 29 Itaewon disaster. This comes 269 days after the Itaewon disaster occurred and 167 days since the National Assembly passed the impeachment motion against the minister.

Chief Justice Yoo Nam-seok of the Constitutional Court and the constitutional justices are seated on the afternoon of the 25th at the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to deliver the impeachment trial verdict against Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min for the inadequate response to the Itaewon tragedy. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

On the 25th, the Constitutional Court held a hearing on the impeachment petition against Minister Lee and unanimously decided to dismiss the case. Chief Justice Yoo Nam-seok, appointed by former President Moon Jae-in and the Democratic Party, along with Justices Kim Ki-young, Moon Hyung-bae, Lee Mi-seon, and Justices Lee Eun-ae, Kim Hyung-doo, and Jung Jung-mi, appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo, all expressed opinions in favor of dismissal.

The court ruled that "Minister Lee cannot be considered to have violated the Disaster and Safety Management Act," and that "it is not clear that the minister failed to take protective measures, and the minister cannot be held responsible for inadequate disaster response."

Regarding the prevention of mass crowd accidents, the court stated, "Since Yongsan District Office and Yongsan Police Station, which have jurisdiction over the Itaewon area, did not separately report to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety or the respondent (Minister Lee) before the disaster, it is difficult to require the respondent to have taken prior measures such as establishing the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) or the Central Accident Response Headquarters (CARH) to prevent the disaster."

On the issue of the establishment and linkage of the disaster safety communication network, the court also judged that "even if there was inadequate use of the disaster safety communication network, it is difficult to conclude that the respondent failed to fulfill the obligation to establish and operate the disaster safety communication network."

Regarding the disaster response process after the disaster, the court concluded that it is difficult to see that Minister Lee violated the Constitution, which stipulates the state's obligation to protect citizens from disaster risks, or the Disaster and Safety Management Act, which concretizes this obligation.

The court noted, "The respondent first received a report of the disaster occurrence via message from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's Disaster Safety Secretary, but since the respondent was not near the scene, it was limited to properly grasp the damage situation and scale and decide on disaster response measures based solely on the message content," and added, "It is not clearly unreasonable that the respondent judged that practical initial response should take precedence over operating the CDSCH without actively taking measures such as forming a situation assessment meeting."

Furthermore, the court stated, "Since the respondent continued to receive reports from related agencies and issued instructions and cooperation requests while moving to the disaster site, it is difficult to evaluate that the respondent's disaster response method was so negligent or abandoned duties as to significantly undermine public trust in government policy and administration."

The court also addressed Minister Lee's post-disaster remarks implying that the issue could not have been resolved by pre-deploying police or fire personnel, stating, "It is difficult to see that the remarks were made with sufficient care, and overall, they were inappropriate as they could cause public misunderstanding," but added, "It is difficult to conclude that these remarks significantly damaged public trust in disaster and safety management duties or that they justify dismissal by impairing the functions of disaster and safety management administration."

Finally, the court emphasized, "Minister Lee cannot be free from responsibility for the human casualties caused by the disaster and bears the duty as a minister to humbly accept criticism related to large-scale disaster response and to make efforts to improve the overall disaster response system." However, it ruled, "The disaster was not caused or expanded by a single cause or specific individual, but was the result of a combination of factors, including the lack of clear regulatory provisions in the Disaster and Safety Management Act regarding safety management and manuals for organizer-less festivals, making it difficult to place the responsibility solely on the respondent."

Meanwhile, Justices Kim Ki-young, Moon Hyung-bae, and Lee Mi-seon issued separate opinions pointing out that "Minister Lee arrived at the scene nearly two hours after recognizing the disaster, which cannot be seen as the expected behavior of a disaster and safety management chief coordinator in an emergency, and is not consistent with common sense even from the perspective of an average public official," but they did not find grounds to justify dismissal.

Justice Jung Jung-mi criticized Minister Lee's post-disaster remarks as "words and actions that could be seen as evading responsibility, causing great disappointment not only to the disaster victims and their families but also to the general public, constituting conduct damaging to dignity," but stated that violation of the duty to maintain dignity alone does not justify dismissal.

Earlier, the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against Minister Lee, holding him responsible for inadequate response to the Itaewon disaster. The motion was initiated by the Democratic Party, the Justice Party, and the Basic Income Party. The National Assembly cited violations of Article 34, Paragraph 6 of the Constitution (state's obligation to prevent disasters and protect citizens), Article 10, and the Disaster and Safety Management Basic Act (Articles 4 Paragraph 1, 22, 23, 25-2, 34-8, etc.) regarding failure to take prior disaster prevention measures, as well as violation of Article 56 of the State Public Officials Act concerning the duty of diligence.

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