South Korea's National Assembly Approves Impeachment Actions Against Chief Auditor and Prosecutors
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Seoul, Dec 5 (NationPress) The National Assembly of South Korea, which is controlled by the opposition, on Thursday approved impeachment actions against the chief state auditor and three leading prosecutors due to their involvement in investigations concerning the relocation of the presidential office and First Lady Kim Keon Hee.
The impeachment actions were directed at Choe Jae-hae, the Chair of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI); Lee Chang-soo, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office; and Cho Sang-won and Choi Jae-hun, both of whom are prosecutors under Lee, as reported by the Yonhap news agency.
With the approval of these motions, all four individuals will be temporarily suspended from their positions until the Constitutional Court makes a decision regarding the validity of their impeachment. This marks the first instance of a BAI chair being impeached by the National Assembly.
The votes were overwhelmingly in favor of impeachment, passing with counts of 188-4 against Choe, 185-3 against Lee, 187-4 against Cho, and 186-4 against Choi. Lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) chose to abstain from the vote.
Choe faces accusations from the opposition regarding a lackluster review of the alleged irregularities surrounding the 2022 relocation of the presidential office, which was executed in accordance with a campaign promise made by President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The three prosecutors are alleged to have failed to bring charges against the First Lady following an investigation into her purported involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.
The impeachment actions were initially set to be voted on Wednesday; however, the process was delayed due to Yoon's brief announcement of martial law.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Party, had indicated it would postpone the impeachments of the state auditor and the prosecutors to focus on a motion to impeach Yoon over his martial law declaration, but reversed this decision on Thursday after the PPP established a stance against Yoon's impeachment as its official party line.
