Court rejects impeachment of safety minister over Itaewon tragedy

Judges sit at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, Tuesday, during a trial on a motion to impeach Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min. All nine judges of the court rejected the motion. Joint Press Corps

Minister returns to office immediately after ruling

By Nam Hyun-woo

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled against a National Assembly vote to impeach Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, saying that he did not violate any laws in responding to a deadly crowd crush that killed 159 people who were enjoying Halloween festivities in Itaewon, Seoul, in October last year.

All nine constitutional court judges dismissed the National Assembly's motion to impeach the safety minister. Following the ruling, Lee, who was suspended from his job since the Assembly passed the impeachment motion in February, was reinstated.

In the ruling, the court said the emergency response system that was used to handle the incident was not significantly deficient, given the frequent communication and coordination between the ministry, police and Itaewon district office. The court also said the minister's disaster response approach was not evaluated as being deficient enough to seriously undermine public trust in the government's policies and administration.

“The court also sees that the post-disaster response measures did not violate the Constitution, the Disaster Safety Act, or the National Public Officials Act,” the judges said.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, center, puts on a safety helmet during a visit to a flood-damaged town in Cheongyang County, North Chungcheong Province, Tuesday, hours after the Constitutional Court rejected a motion to impeach him. Yonhap

The ruling came 167 days after the Assembly passed the impeachment motion and 269 days after the tragedy took place. It was the first case in Korea's Constitutional history that the Assembly passed an impeachment motion against a serving Cabinet member.

The motion was tabled by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and two minor opposition parties ― the Justice Party and the Basic Income Party ― which claimed that Lee did not fulfill his duties as the minister of safety, while making comments denying his responsibility.

On Oct. 30, a day after the tragedy took place, Lee triggered public outrage while explaining to reporters why the government failed to preemptively dispatch safety personnel to the highly-crowded event. Lee said, “The incident could not have been resolved simply by deploying additional police or firefighting personnel in advance.”

During an Assembly investigation into the tragedy in December, Lee also caused controversy by saying, “The case has already passed its golden time (which has the highest likelihood of prompt measures preventing deaths), and I wasn't idling that time.”

The opposition saw this was an attempt to dodge his responsibility for the tragedy and showed Lee's serious misunderstanding and lack of awareness regarding the role of the safety minister.

However, the court did not find those remarks as justifying his impeachment.

“It was found that the remarks could not be considered serious enough to significantly undermine public trust or impair the function of disaster and safety management,” the judges said. “Thus, the grounds for impeachment were not recognized.”

The dismissal has been widely expected, because the Constitutional Court examines whether the respondent violated the Constitution or laws in the execution of their duties, and whether an act constitutes a serious violation of the law, when it comes to an impeachment case.

In 2004, the Constitutional Court dismissed an impeachment motion against former President Roh Moo-hyun, stating that while he violated the Public Official Election Act and other laws, the violations were not considered serious enough to strip him of the presidency.

In Lee's case, there have been lingering questions about whether there is objective evidence of illegalities he committed in relation to the Itaewon tragedy. In January, the National Police Agency concluded its own investigation into the Itaewon crowd crush and cleared Lee of charges, saying there was no evidence to support the allegations.

After the dismissal ruling, Lee issued a statement apologizing to the public for causing concerns and pledged to pursue “a fundamental change in the country's disaster response system.”

A group representing the bereaved families of the Itaewon tragedy held a press conference after the ruling and denounced the Constitutional Court and the Yoon administration for “abandoning their responsibility.”

“Despite being the highest authority responsible for the Itaewon tragedy, the court gave an amnesty to Minister Lee who has never acknowledged any accountability,” a group of victim families said in a statement. “The court has undermined its own existence and denied the responsibilities, effectively confirming the country's status of being in a state of lawlessness.”

They claimed any ranking public official who felt responsibility for the tragedy should have stepped down, and the public has already impeached the minister. They urged him to step down immediately.

Members of a group representing families of the Itaewon tragedy victims stage a protest at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, Seoul, Tuesday, after the court dismissed a National Assembly vote to impeach Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min. Yonhap

Political consequences

The ruling is anticipated to trigger massive political repercussions, as the ruling bloc has been claiming that the opposition abused the Assembly's rights for impeachment for political purposes, resulting in a serious vacuum in the role of the safety ministry in handling other natural disasters, such as the recent heavy downpours.

“The impeachment motion system is designed to uphold the principles of liberal democracy and Constitutional order,” a senior official at the presidential office told The Korea Times. “The impeachment attempt is an abuse of the impeachment rights by the majority-holding opposition, and this unconstitutional act will likely face the stern judgment of the public.”

The ruling People Power Party's senior spokesperson Rep. Yoo Sang-bum said, “The impeachment trial was nonsense from the start, because there were no significant violations of the law, and it was evident that there was no intentional breach of the duty of loyalty.”

“The DPK used the tragedy for its political gains, pushing for the unprecedented impeachment of a minister, using its majority in the Assembly as a weapon. This resulted in critical administrative tasks of the ministry coming to a virtual standstill… The prolonged vacancy of the minister's position significantly hindered the ministry's primary responsibility of preventing disasters like the recent floods and safeguarding the nation and its citizens.”

PPP Rep. Ha Tae-keung also said in a radio interview with broadcaster MBC that “the DPK also did not think that the impeachment will be accepted, and it just sought in a very wrong way to get Minister Lee to take political responsibility.”

Meanwhile, DPK Rep. Park Yong-jin wrote on his Facebook that “the dismissal does not justify Minister Lee or President Yoon Suk Yeol” and “the Yoon administration is still responsibility for the Itaewon tragedy still remains.”