The National Assembly confirmed that the expense incurred for constitutional lawsuits, such as the authority dispute trial and impeachment trial, last year amounted to 400 million won. With several ongoing trials, it is expected that the National Assembly's budget expenditure related to constitutional lawsuits will increase further.
According to data submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat obtained through a request for information disclosure by ChosunBiz on the 18th, the National Assembly spent a total of 395.34 million won to respond to constitutional lawsuits involving the Speaker of the National Assembly or the Chairperson of the National Assembly committee for the year 2024.
Most of the expenditure was used for attorney hiring costs and fees for conducting the authority dispute trial against the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the committee, as well as for the impeachment trial in which the Chairperson of the Legislative and Judiciary Committee participated as a impeachment manager.
In constitutional lawsuits, the parties do not bear the litigation expenses such as registration fees and delivery charges. A National Assembly official noted that "the majority of the expense for the constitutional lawsuit is the cost of hiring an attorney to represent the proceedings."
The expense incurred by the National Assembly for constitutional lawsuits has been increasing year by year. The National Assembly spent ▲11 million won in 2019 ▲23.65 million won in 2020 ▲100.98 million won in 2021 ▲143 million won in 2022 ▲279.95 million won in 2023. There may be a discrepancy between the years in which the Constitutional Court received the case and the year in which the actual expenses were incurred, due to differences in the application date and the timing of attorney hiring contracts.
However, the National Assembly does not disclose the expenses incurred for each individual case. They say they cannot disclose it due to concerns about fair performance of duties or the trade secrets of law firms.
Last year, the National Assembly, led by the opposition, filed a total of nine impeachment trials. Starting with the impeachment of Lee Jin-sook, Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission in August, an impeachment process was carried out against eight individuals including President Yoon Suk-yeol, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Auditor General Choi Jae-hae, prosecutors Lee Chang-soo, Cho Sang-won, and Choi Jae-hoon, Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae, and Commissioner Joo Ji-ho of the Korean National Police Agency immediately after President Yoon declared a state of emergency.
The National Assembly has passed the ball to the Constitutional Court, but as of that day, there were no impeachment cases cited. Since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, the Democratic Party has formally proposed a total of 13 impeachment motions. Among these, the impeachment motions for Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, Chairperson Lee Jin-sook, and prosecutors Ahn Dong-wan and Lee Jeong-seob were dismissed, while nine are currently undergoing impeachment trials. This week, the impeachment trials for President Yoon, the 9th and 10th hearings, and the impeachment trials for Prime Minister Han and three prosecutors are ongoing, leading to the term "Impeachment Super Week."
Following that, there were also requests for authority dispute trials amid the impeachment political situation. The People Power Party requested an authority dispute trial regarding the quorum standard for the impeachment motion after the motion against Prime Minister Han was passed in the National Assembly led by the opposition. On the 3rd of last month, a request for an authority dispute trial was made by Chairperson Woo Won-sik after Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Sang-mok appointed only two out of three candidates for the position of constitutional court judge.
Concerns have been raised that the political sector, which should regulate this conflict, is maximizing confrontation. It is said that both the ruling and opposition parties are dragging the judiciary into the political realm and that the "politicization of the judiciary" has intensified. With the Constitutional Court's work concentrating on impeachment cases and authority dispute trials, there are also criticisms that constitutional complaints, for which the people should be remedied, are being pushed aside.
Professor Jo Jin-man of Duksung Women's University stated, "Not only the political risks but also the actual expense will increase. In the future, there is a high possibility that much more expense will need to be paid."
He added, "At some point, the legal domain and the political realm have become entangled. Before attacking the Constitutional Court, it is basic for politics to ensure that such a situation does not occur," and emphasized that "the political sector should mediate conflicts and demonstrate political capability so that the people do not have to bear the social conflict expense."