The Constitutional Court “Examines the Causes for the Impeachment”

In connection with the impeachment hearing against President Roh Moo-hyun, the Constitutional Court disclosed on March 19 that the judges are individually examining the reasons for the impeachment bill.

Judge Joo Sun-hoi, chief judge of the case, said on this day that they will discuss the main frame of this bill, the essential part of this case, in the council scheduled to be held on March 25.

Accordingly, the Constitutional Court judges are individually collecting and analyzing the related data to decide the validity of the three impeachment reasons: the violation of the election law, the corruptions of the president’s aides, and the failure of the government and economy.

If the defense team for President Roh--a chairman of the legislation and judiciary committee, a chairman of the National Election Commission, and the Justice Minister--will present the defense pleas and written opinions on the impeachment case to the Constitutional Court until March 23, the Constitutional Court will send the data to them again for examination after arranging the documents, while the Constitutional Court will make a close examination on the defense pleas and written opinions for themselves.

In the March 25 council, the Constitutional Court will additionally discuss whether or not they will adopt an intensive hearing method, including the procedure of the trial proceedings that are not yet concluded. Also, they are studying the legal question about whether the legislators violated the National Assembly law in the process of passing the impeachment motion.

Sang-Rok Lee myzodan@donga.com