Yoo Sang-beom, a member of the People Power Party. Yonhap News.
On the 2nd, members of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the People Power Party criticized the court’s issuance of an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol as an “illegal warrant issuance” and announced that they would consider impeaching the judge who issued the warrant. They aligned with President Yoon’s defense team, stepping up to protect the president.
The People Power Party lawmakers on the committee held a press conference at the National Assembly that day, arguing that the court’s exception to the legal provision, which states “military and governmental secret facilities and materials cannot be searched without the person in charge’s consent,” for the unprecedented arrest and search warrant for President Yoon is an act outside the judiciary’s authority and violates the separation of powers, rendering it null and void.
The Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest and search warrant for President Yoon on the 31st of last month, specifying that “Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Procedure Act are exceptions in this case,” which breached President Yoon’s defense against forced investigation, leading them to contest the warrant’s legality.
Yoo Sang-beom, a ruling party member and secretary of the judiciary committee, further warned that he would “actively consider impeachment of the warrant judge, Lee Soon-hyung, from the Seoul Western District Court, for his illegal issuance of the warrant, after consulting with the leadership.”
This stance even faced criticism within the party. Kim Sang-wook, a lawmaker and former legal professional, criticized by saying, “It cannot be judged that arresting the president violates the state’s significant interest, so there is no authority to refuse arrest. Therefore, refusing arrest by someone with no jurisdiction to do so is wrong,” adding that “the party is working hard to protect the president.” Jo Kyung-tae, another lawmaker, urged, “Our party’s judiciary committee members should first clarify their stance on unconstitutional and illegal martial law.”