President’s Lawyers Say Impeachment Motion Is Unconstitutional

President Roh Moo-hyun`s lawyers yesterday submitted a second document responding to the Constitutional Court`s request for the President’s opinion. The document claims that “the impeachment case should be ruled down or dismissed because the passage of this impeachment motion is against the Constitution in its process and the cause for impeachment is unreasonable.”

The lawyers submitted the first document Monday that contains constitutional, political, and social analyses about the irrationality of the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.

The lawyers’ second document says no deliberation was made on cause for filing an impeachment of the president before the passage and the opposition parties infringed the right to vote because lawmakers were threatened with expulsion if they did not vote. The document also points out that the vote procedure was liable to be unconstitutional as the open hour of a plenary session was arbitrarily changed, and a discussion and Q&A period were omitted. The document also comments on the three reasons of the impeachment of President Roh. About the first reason that the president violated election law, it says that the president did not illegally wield political influence because his behavior was within the boundary of the law which permits a president to perform political activities as a politician. Concerning the second reason, the corruption of the president’s close aides, the President was not the one who committed illegal behaviors and there has been no evidence that President was involved. The document also says that the third case for impeachment, that the President is responsible for the current economic and political turmoil, is not valid since an impeachment motion deals with legal responsibility.

The President’s lawyers will present their opinions to the Constitutional Court if there are more matters to consider.

In yesterday`s response to the Constitutional Court`s request for its opinion on the impeachment case, the National Election Commission only said "it had no opinion," citing that it is not obliged to clarify its official position. The court is considering making additional requests for reports if needed.

Rep. Kim Ki-choon, chairman of the National Assembly`s Judiciary and Legislation Committee, will respond to the Court’s request for the committee’s opinion on the legitimacy of the impeachment by the end of the month. Rep. Park Kwan-yong will submit today a responding document on the procedure of the passage. The Justice Ministry will also submit today a document pointing out the unreasonableness of the impeachment, while the Korean Bar Association will submit a document tomorrow.

Sang-Rok Lee myzodan@donga.com