The People Power Party reported to the police on the 24th that Lee Jae-myung, the representative of the Democratic Party, and Park Kyun-taek, a lawmaker, forced acting President Choi Sang-mok to appoint Constitutional Court candidate Ma Eun-hyeok on charges of coercion.
Chairperson Ju Jin-woo noted through a media announcement that “to facilitate a swift investigation, we simply structured the legal concept around coercion.”
The charges against Representative Lee include the allegation that he threatened acting President Choi Sang-mok, saying, “You are in the act of neglecting your duties, and any citizen can arrest you, so I hope you take care.” He has also been accused of compelling the appointment of candidate Ma, even though the investigation into the MiRy Foundation-related case was concluded without any charges being recognized, by colluding with Representative Park to belatedly file a criminal complaint nearly 10 years later.
Chairperson Ju stated, “In a situation where the arguments in the 'presidential impeachment trial' have concluded, the Democratic Party's unilateral recommendation of candidate Ma for appointment as a Constitutional Court justice is a kind of manipulation to overturn the conclusion of the impeachment trial,” and claimed, “As it is expected that the Constitutional Court will dismiss the impeachment, Representative Lee has been pressuring Acting President Choi to push candidate Ma through incessant impeachment proposals, criminal complaints, and threats, making criminal punishment inevitable.”
In addition, he said, “The Democratic Party is displaying a dual behavior of shouting for ‘the rule of law in words only’ in the Lee Jae-myung style while resorting to any means necessary for the acceptance of impeachment.”
Chairperson Ju also stated, “Since the Constitutional Court cannot force the appointment of candidate Ma and did not set a timeline, we will firmly respond to any unjust political maneuvering attempting to overturn the presidential impeachment trial.”