Korea Communications Commission Chairman Lee Jin-sook Faces the Music: Impeachment Trial Kicks Off Today
Impeachment Trial of Korea Communications Commission Chairman Lee Jin-sook Begins
The Constitutional Court will hold the first oral argument preparation date at 2:00 PM today to summon the petitioners and defendants for the impeachment trial and organize their arguments, evidence, and issues.
Once this procedure is completed, a date will be set for the oral argument, where both sides will engage in a full-scale debate over whether to impeach Chairwoman Lee Jin-sook.
The National Assembly passed the impeachment motion against Chairwoman Lee Jin-sook under the leadership of the opposition party, including the Democratic Party of Korea, and submitted the impeachment motion to the Constitutional Court.
Chairwoman Lee Jin-sook was suspended from her duties just two days after taking office.
The National Assembly took issue with the fact that Chairman Lee had voted on the appointment of a public broadcasting director as a “two-person system” with Standing Committee member Kim Tae-gyu on the day of his appointment, citing the Broadcasting and Communications Commission Act.
The argument is that since the standing committee members are all five members stipulated by law, passing a resolution with only two members instead of three is a violation of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission Act.
The impeachment motion included grounds for impeachment, such as participating in the voting process despite the fact that the directors of the Broadcast Culture Promotion Association filed a motion to recuse Chairwoman Lee Jin-sook.
Additionally, the motion cited not avoiding the process of appointing Director Bang Moon-jin despite suspicions that she obstructed labor union activities and participated in disciplinary action against reporters while working at MBC in the past.
After the trial process is over, if at least 7 out of the 9 Constitutional Court justices are present and at least 6 of them decide to uphold the dismissal, the person will be impeached.
According to the Constitutional Court Act, the Constitutional Court usually issues a final decision within 180 days from the date of receipt, and it is expected that a decision on whether to impeach the chairman will be made by the end of January next year at the latest.