Within the People Power Party, there is an increasing expectation that President Yoon Suk-yeol will return to office following the dismissal of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's impeachment trial. Kweon Seong-dong, the floor leader, noted on the 25th that there is a "possibility of dismissal" regarding President Yoon's impeachment trial during a public appearance.
Kweon, the floor leader, met with reporters after a parliamentary countermeasure meeting held in the National Assembly that morning, stating that this was a "personal judgment."
He explained, "Considering my past experience as an impeachment prosecutor in the National Assembly, current public opinion, and the structure of constitutional adjudication being different from that in the past with former President Park Geun-hye, as well as the distinct nature of the case itself, I amalgamated these factors in my consideration." Earlier, Kweon had mentioned during a Channel A News YouTube broadcast the previous afternoon that, "As of now, in my view, the likelihood of impeachment being dismissed is high."
The ruling party leadership, along with the government, is bolstering predictions that a "dismissal" decision could occur in President Yoon's impeachment trial. The results of the impeachment trial for Prime Minister Han indicated that the constitutional judges' determinations were split into "5 dismissals, 2 dismissals with no ruling, and 1 ruling in favor." It is believed that it would be difficult to have more than 6 votes in favor for President Yoon's impeachment trial as well. If fewer than 5 of the 8 constitutional judges express a ruling in favor, President Yoon will not be impeached. Considering the tendencies of the two judges who ruled for a dismissal in Prime Minister Han's trial and Judge Kim Bok-hyung, who did not acknowledge any of the five impeachment charges against Prime Minister Han, there are scenarios suggesting dismissals could occur with ratios of "5 to 3" or "4 to 4."
In particular, the interpretations by Judges Jeong Hyeong-sik and Jo Han-chang regarding the threshold for impeachment decisions as 200 seats are seen as indicative of their emphasis on procedural justice. The People Power Party has emphasized that the Democratic Party's withdrawal of the insurrection charge from the impeachment grounds violates the principle of uniformity in prosecution, suggesting there is a procedural defect. There is a perception that these two judges will pay attention to this aspect. Spokesperson Shin Dong-wook stated on "YTN Radio News Fighting," "At least two or more judges probably have the opinion that they cannot judge on such procedural issues. Therefore, if there is an impact, it could be there," adding, "The possibility of dismissal is not completely absent in my view."
The ruling party also notes that the Constitutional Court did not issue any ruling regarding the charges of insurrection. Spokesperson Shin said, "It might be that their judgment on the insurrection aspect was not completed, or the Constitutional Court may have hidden their thoughts to avoid confusion. I believe the former is more likely."
He also stated, "In the past, when presidents were impeached, there was a significant consideration of public opinion or emotions over procedures, whereas in this case, awareness of procedural matters has increased substantially among the public. Therefore, since constitutional judges are also under considerable pressure regarding any procedural errors, I do not see a possibility of dismissal as completely absent."