Yoon's Side Submits Opinion to Constitutional Court Urging Recusal of Moon Hyung-bae, Lee Mi-seon, and Jung Gye-seon
by Lim Chunhan
Published 01 Feb.2025 15:18(KST)
Updated 01 Feb.2025 15:32(KST)
The Yoon Suk-yeol presidential camp submitted a written opinion to the Constitutional Court stating that Justices Moon Hyeong-bae, Lee Mi-seon, and Jeong Gye-seon should recuse themselves from the impeachment trial proceedings.
On the 1st, Yoon's camp stated, "The authority of the court and the trust that the trial is fair are not gained by insisting there is no problem internally, but must be recognized externally," and announced that they submitted a request for recusal to the Constitutional Court.
Yoon's camp argued that Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyeong-bae is politically biased, citing his past interactions with Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, through social networking services (SNS). They pointed out that Justice Lee Mi-seon’s younger sibling is the vice-chair of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) special committee for Yoon Suk-yeol’s resignation, and that Lee’s spouse works at the same law firm as former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il, who is currently on trial for alleged collusion with Lee and the Daejang-dong 5 billion club scandal. Regarding Justice Jeong Gye-seon, they raised concerns that Jeong’s spouse, lawyer Hwang Pil-gyu, signed a declaration urging impeachment, and that the chairman of the Gonggam Public Interest and Human Rights Foundation, to which Hwang belongs, is lawyer Kim Yi-su, co-leader of the National Assembly’s legal team.
Earlier, the Constitutional Court dismissed Yoon’s camp’s request to disqualify Justice Jeong Gye-seon on similar grounds. Cheon Jae-hyun, the Constitutional Court’s spokesperson, said, "There are cases where the political sphere and media uniformly judge the personal inclinations of justices and distort the essence of the impeachment trial," adding, "The Constitutional Court expresses concern about the possibility of infringement on the judiciary’s authority due to this."
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