Justice Ministry : Petition Against Capital Move Should be Rejected

Concerning the petition to the Constitutional Court ruling on the constitutionality of the special law on moving the capital, the Ministry of Justice yesterday submitted a statement saying, “The petition should be rejected because it is objecting to state policy instead of relieving individual rights, and it also doesn’t have the proper legal requirements.”

The Justice Ministry, in a statement, said, “This case should be rejected because it was raised to oppose state policy, which differs from common petitions asking for the relief of individual, infringed basic rights. It is far from the essence of the constitutional petition system.” The Ministry also contended that “it doesn’t have the proper legal requirements since there is no ‘directness’ or ‘self-relation’ under which the plaintiffs suffer directly from the capital relocation, and a judicial examination into a matter requiring delicate political judgment should be restrained because it may lead to a result where jurisdiction would be intervening in the sphere of legislation and administration.”

Regarding an application for a provisional injunction to halt all administration measures concerning the capital move before the court rules on the petition, the Ministry said, “It has to be rejected because it brings about failure in the implementation of important state policy.”

Sang-Rok Lee myzodan@donga.com