President Yoon's Side Submits Constitutional Scholars' Opinion to the Constitutional Court: "Dismissal and Rejection in Agreement"

Heo Young: "Only Speeding Up the Hearing Despite Fairness Concerns"
Professors Jung Sungwoo, Lee Inho, and Kim Sanggyeom Join the Call

The office of President Yoon Suk-yeol announced on the 9th that it submitted opinion letters from constitutional law scholars as reference materials to the Constitutional Court, which is hearing the impeachment trial, on the 7th.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is greeting supporters as he leaves Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi Province on the 8th. Photo by Yonhap News

In the opinion letter, Heo Young, Chair Professor at Kyung Hee University Law School, claimed that there are ten procedural issues in the Constitutional Court's hearing. First, regarding the National Assembly's statement that it would not dispute the establishment of the crime of rebellion under criminal law as grounds for impeachment, he said, "The identity of the accusation has been lost, and since there was no resolution by the National Assembly to withdraw the grounds for impeachment, it is improper."

He also argued that, according to amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, the interrogation records of former commanders Lee Jin-woo, Yeo In-hyung, and Kwak Jong-geun should not be accepted as evidence, and that the memo by former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Hong Jang-won is also questionable in credibility and should be treated similarly.

He raised issues with the Constitutional Court's scheduling of oral arguments and securing of investigation records. Professor Heo stated, "Despite concerns about fairness, they are only speeding up the hearing process," adding, "This could rather become a trigger for rebellion."

Professor Heo is regarded as an authority in constitutional law who pioneered the 'Korean Constitutional Theory' suited to our customs. He also served as the inaugural director of the Constitutional Court Research Institute under the Constitutional Court.

Jung Sung-woo, Professor at Sungkyunkwan University Law School and former president of the Korean Constitutional Law Association, submitted an opinion stating, "With only eleven hearings conducted, dismissing the president who was directly elected by the people and has the greatest democratic legitimacy is clearly a lack of sufficient hearing and should be dismissed."

Professor Lee In-ho of Chung-Ang University Law School also demanded the Constitutional Court to dismiss the case, saying, "There is no substance to the act of rebellion called a riot, and the president cannot be recognized as having the intent or purpose of rebellion."

In addition, President Yoon's side also submitted opinions from Lee Ho-seon, Dean of the College of Law at Kookmin University; Choi Hee-soo, Professor at Kangwon National University Law School; Kim Sang-gyeom, Professor Emeritus at Dongguk University College of Law; and Jung Hyun-mi, Professor at Ewha Womans University Law School.

Based on this, President Yoon's side claimed, "The scholars unanimously agree on dismissal or rejection due to procedural flaws in the accusation and trial, the subject being outside judicial review (the declaration of martial law is not subject to judicial review), and the trust of the people in the president."

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