Nat'l Assembly passes impeachment motions against chief auditor, prosecutors
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik announces the passage of the impeachment motion against Lee Chang-soo, chief prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, while striking the gavel at the National Assembly's plenary session in Yeouido District, Seoul. Yonhap
The opposition-controlled National Assembly on Thursday passed impeachment motions against the chief state auditor and three top prosecutors over their roles in investigations related to the relocation of the presidential office and first lady Kim Keon Hee.
The impeachment motions were against Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) Chair Choe Jae-hae; Lee Chang-soo, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office; and Cho Sang-won and Choi Jae-hun, both prosecutors under Lee.
With the motions' passage, all four will be suspended from their duties until the Constitutional Court rules on whether to uphold their impeachment. It is the first time a BAI chief has been impeached by parliament.
The motions passed 188-4 against Choe, 185-3 against Lee, 187-4 against Cho and 186-4 against Choi. Lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the vote.
Choe is accused by the opposition of conducting a poor review of alleged irregularities surrounding the 2022 relocation of the presidential office, which took place in line with a campaign pledge of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The three prosecutors, meanwhile, are accused of failing to indict the first lady following an investigation into her alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.
Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung expressed regret over the unilateral passage of the motions.
"We are at a very critical time now," he said. "I find it very regrettable that the impeachment was handled unilaterally at such a time," he told reporters outside his office in Seoul.
The impeachment motions were originally scheduled to be put to a vote Wednesday, but the proceeding was postponed in the wake of Yoon's short-lived declaration of martial law.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said it would put off the impeachments of the state auditor and the prosecutors to concentrate on passing an impeachment motion against Yoon over his martial law decree but reversed its stance Thursday after the PPP adopted opposing Yoon's impeachment as its official party line.
Later in the day, the DP and other opposition parties also adopted a resolution calling for the swift arrest of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who had been named to lead the short-lived martial law command.
They also urged the arrest of police chief Cho Ji-ho and several other officials involved in the martial law declaration at an emergency meeting of the Public Administration and Security Committee at the National Assembly.
Ruling party lawmakers walked out of the session in protest of the opposition parties' characterization of the martial law turmoil as a "clear act of anti-state treason."
Yoon declared martial law in an unexpected late-night statement shortly before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday followed by the announcement of a martial decree by Park about an hour later, prohibiting political party activities and assemblies. (Yonhap)