Jung Seong-ho, a member of the Democratic Party, said on the 10th about Han Duck-soo, the acting president and prime minister, that "there is no choice but to impeach." This is regarding the appointment of two candidates for constitutional judges by Han, which raises claims that he should be excluded from managing the presidential election.
On the morning of that day, Representative Jung stated on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" that "it is highly questionable what results will come out if the acting president manages the presidential election."
He continued, "He went beyond the authority he should not have acted on, and does the acting president not have the responsibility to manage the presidential election as the head of the executive branch?" and added, "That is why he must be excluded from this situation."
He added, "Ultimately, there is no option but impeachment."
Representative Jung has maintained a cautious stance regarding the Democratic Party's series of impeachments of ministers. However, it seems that he mentioned impeachment recently due to the controversy surrounding Article 84 of the Constitution.
Article 84 of the Constitution states, "The president shall not be criminally prosecuted during his tenure except for crimes of insurrection or foreign exchange." However, there is a clash between the ruling and opposition parties over whether ongoing trials fall under "prosecution."
Former Representative Lee claims that the prosecutions specified in Article 84 of the Constitution include trials, arguing that if one becomes president, the trial stops. In contrast, the People Power Party believes that prosecution must be understood as indictment, claiming that trials do not apply.
It is suggested that there are attempts to alter the composition of the Constitutional Court, which makes the final decision, to a conservatively biased structure in order to continue the halt of former Representative Lee's trial.
Representative Jung noted, "Some people suspect that they are trying to proceed with (former Representative Lee's) trial since it does not pertain to investigation or indictment regarding the interpretation of Article 84 of the Constitution," and questioned, "Are they not trying to instigate a coup through the Constitutional Court with former President Yoon Suk-yeol?"
He further stated, "I do not want to think extremely, but removing a president elected by the people through methods other than impeachment seems to me a coup." He added, "One could interpret that ongoing trials can proceed by oddly interpreting Article 84 of the Constitution. It is the Constitutional Court that reaches the final conclusion."
Regarding the atmosphere within the party about the re-impeachment theory, he said, "Many lawmakers resonate with it, but regarding the impeachment push, there is also considerable public sentiment that we must be cautious considering various situations both inside and outside the country," adding, "There might be a bit of backlash."