2017: Constitutional Court decides to oust Park

10. März 2017 - Amtsenthebung
Quelle: The Hankyoreh. Mit freundlicher Erlaubnis

Constitutional Court decides unanimously to oust Park




2017, March 10.

Court finds that allowing Choi Sunsil’s interference in government, then attempting a coverup, was grounds for impeachment



Choi Sunsil made the difference. Even while the Constitutional Court concluded that President Park Geunhye’s responsibility for the Sewol sinking did not constitute grounds for impeachment, it unanimously decided to uphold her impeachment because of her involvement in Choi’s government interference.

As Lee Jungmi, acting president of the Constitutional Court, read the court’s decision on the National Assembly’s motion for impeachment against Park on Mar. 10, she addressed several procedural objections that had been raised to the trial. In regard to the legality of the process of the National Assembly’s vote on the impeachment motion, she said, “The charges in the motion of impeachment were specific enough for the defendant to exercise her right of selfdefense.

It was also the National Assembly’s prerogative whether or not to investigate the charges.” In regard to the fact that the motion passed the National Assembly without any debate, Lee said that “debate was not absolutely necessary according to the National Assembly Act.” In regard to the fact that the trial was heard by eight judges on the Constitutional Court instead of the full complement of nine, she said, “There are no legal or constitutional problems with the trial being heard by eight people.”

In the decision, Lee also addressed punitive personnel decisions for public servants in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism that the National Assembly had claimed were “violations of the career public servant system and of Constitutional regulations about the president’s power to appoint public servants.” “We cannot conclude with certainty that Park made personnel decisions for public servants in the Culture Ministry because they were getting in the way of Choi Sunsil’s pursuit of private gain,

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