Opposition party pushes forward with hearing to impeach President Yoon

Democratic Party and other parties of the opposition held a hearing on June 26 at the general meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly and adopted First Lady Kim Kun-hee and President Yoon's mother-in-law, Choi Eun-soon, as witnesses on July 9. The People Power Party protested to the move arguing that “the ‘impeachment petition hearing’ is no different from ‘preliminary impeachment action,’” and walked out without participating in the vote. President Yoon, who is visiting the United States to attend the ‘2024 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit’, exercised his right to reconsider (veto) the bill for the appointment of a special prosecutor to probe the investigation of the death of a Marine known as Chae.

Opposition parties tabled the 'National Petition Request for Immediate Impeachment of President Yoon,' which recently received 1.3 million signatures, as an agenda at the general meeting of the Legislative and Judiciary Committee and submitted and a plan to hold hearings on the petition on July 19 and 26.

In the next two hearings, the Democratic Party plans to focus on investigating allegations of corruption and corruption by Kim's family, including suspicions of external pressure on the investigation of Corporal Chae’s death in the line of duty, bribery of luxury goods, and stock price manipulation, all of which were presented as grounds for impeachment in the national petition. To this end, a total of 39 people were called on as witnesses, including Mrs. Kim and Mr. Choi, 17 people related to Mrs. Kim's corruption suspicions, including Incheon District Prosecutors' Prosecutor Song Yun-sang and Deutsche Motors Accounting Manager Yeom Shin-il, and 22 people related to Corporal Chae's case, including Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik and Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan. It was also decided to call on seven people, including lawyer Kim Jeong-min, who represented Colonel Park Jeong-hoon, as witnesses.

The People Power Party Legislative Committee members issued a condemnation statement saying that “the Democratic Party will definitely pay the price for throwing national affairs into chaos and dividing public opinion by suggesting impeachment.”


안규영 기자 kyu0@donga.com