[Insight & Opinion] Impeachment Is Inevitable... Will Judicial Risks Be Covered Up?

Orderly Resignation Is a Time-Buying Strategy
Early Presidential Election and the Race Against Time in Lee's Trial
Supreme Court Verdict on Cho Kuk on the 12th Is the Watershed

Although the first impeachment attempt failed, the impeachment of the president seems inevitable. The orderly resignation theory, which postpones the president's legal suspension from office, does not respond to the public's anger. The unified front of 105 members of the People Power Party who blocked the impeachment motion is already breaking down. Moreover, investigations into the charges of insurrection against President Yoon Seok-yeol and the martial law leadership are gaining momentum. The president's resignation will inevitably proceed through impeachment unless it is an immediate voluntary resignation. The legal suspension of the president's duties can be secured through impeachment, and then the Constitutional Court's ruling on its validity can be awaited. This is the orderly resignation method stipulated in the constitution.

The orderly resignation theory that emerged during former President Park Geun-hye's state affairs manipulation was possible because unconstitutional actions like insurrection by the president were not at issue. This time, President Yoon is already a suspect in the insurrection charges and has been subject to travel restrictions. Some media outlets refer to the failed martial law incident on December 3 as the "12·3 insurrection incident." This concerns the president's unconstitutional abuse of power, which is a different level of responsibility from the state affairs manipulation by Choi Soon-sil and others.

Although the ruling party argues for orderly resignation as a reason to oppose impeachment, the underlying motive is a time-buying strategy. This is to prevent handing over the opportunity to the opposition party, which has a high chance of winning the upcoming presidential election. The core is a judicial risk and a battle against time for the opposition party. The ruling party had hoped that judicial risks, including the election law violation of Lee Jae-myung, who was already convicted in the first trial, would materialize before the presidential election. However, with an early election expected due to the president's self-destructive actions, the ruling party's time strategy has become more urgent. They brought up "orderly resignation" to buy time, but impeachment is inevitable, and there is even a possibility of the president being detained. The ruling party might rather have to worry about an unexpected voluntary resignation by President Yoon.

Until now, our politics has been a symbiotic structure of poor politics, with the ruling and opposition parties enduring by clashing over suspicions about Kim Kun-hee and the judicial risks of Lee Jae-myung. The Democratic Party even cited Donald Trump's case to devise a strategy to cover judicial responsibility through victory in power struggles. Due to President Yoon's self-destructive disaster, the regime collapsed on its own, and the shield forces ultimately won. While it is serious and urgent to hold impeachment responsibility, judicial responsibility must not be concealed by the victory of shield politics. On the 9th, a "Straight and Fair Trial, a Mission We Must Keep for the People" advertisement by the Republic of Korea courts was published in major daily newspapers. We hope that the judiciary's proper role will help us escape the quagmire of "judicialization of politics and politicization of the judiciary."

The final Supreme Court verdict on Representative Cho Kuk, scheduled for the 12th, will be a turning point. If the case is remanded or at least the sentencing is postponed, judicial risks may be buried for a considerable time amid the responsibility debate over martial law. If a two-year prison sentence is confirmed and he is incarcerated, the public will likely turn their attention away from not only Representative Cho Kuk but also the judicial risks of Representative Lee Jae-myung.

President Yoon's anachronistic and absurd martial law declaration has ironically revived the role of the old democratization forces that failed to respond to changes in the post-democratization era. It is as if a broken clock was made valid by an anachronistic president. Turmoil is inevitable until the next presidential election. Through this turmoil, it should become an opportunity for a new start toward a mature democracy, not the power politics of a corrupt cartel. Criticism of the collective strategy of the People Power Party, which abstained from the impeachment vote, should also serve as a moment of reflection on their past anti-democratic actions that ignored the principles of party democracy and free voting under the National Assembly Act.

Kim Man-heum, Former Director of the National Assembly Research Service

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