South Korea's ruling and opposition parties in a battle over the withdrawal of the treason charge in the impeachment case against President Yoon Seok-yeol

South Korea's ruling and opposition parties clashed on the 4th over the National Assembly's impeachment panel's decision to essentially withdraw the charge of treason in the impeachment of President Yoon Seok-yeol.
To correct this, the National Assembly must pass another impeachment motion," but the Democratic Party countered, "This is a procedure to focus on constitutional violations, not criminal law violations."
At a general assembly held at the National Assembly on the same day, Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People's Power, said, "The amendment to the impeachment papers, which was passed with the support of 204 members of the National Assembly, was made after some members and lawyers agreed to it.
"This is not a time for a hasty decision to be made through closed-door deliberations amongst the judges. The Constitutional Court must reject the hastily prepared impeachment document and bring it to a new vote in the National Assembly with a proper impeachment document," he said.
He continued, "The allegations of civil unrest are the alpha and omega of the impeachment charges against the president. If the core issue is excluded from the grounds for impeachment, it's not a steamed bun without a filling, but a steamed bun without a filling."
Park Su-min, the floor spokesperson for the Democratic Party, commented, "The Democratic Party even hung banners across the country to incite the charge of treason. It is a two-faced approach to secretly convict people of treason in an official constitutional court."
"The inclusion or removal of the crime of treason for convenience could cause serious problems. If the party is a true public party based on constitutional conscience, it must apologize to the people immediately," he said.
Meanwhile, Roh Jong-myeon, floor spokesman for the Democratic Party, said in a written briefing that the People's Power Party "is an ignorant assertion that will only elicit bitter laughs.
"They are not disputing the facts of impeachment that have been decided on as to whether or not the crime of treason was established, in other words, whether or not the criminal code was violated, but are instead arguing that it violates the Constitution," he countered.
"Such a natural procedure was carried out in 2017 under Park Geun-hye," said House spokesman Roh.
The same thing happened during the impeachment trial of the former president. The impeachment panel at the time reorganized the impeachment case to clarify only whether the act was unconstitutional, without determining whether criminal offenses such as bribery and coercion had been committed.
He also said, "An impeachment trial is not a criminal trial, but an administrative lawsuit, a constitutional trial," and "The conviction of a criminal offense under the Criminal Code is not a matter for a constitutional trial, but a criminal trial."
He quoted comments made by Floor Leader Kwon Seong-dong, who was chairman of the impeachment committee at the time of the impeachment of former President Geun-hye, at a press conference announcing the fact that the charges were being rewritten.
Kim Young Min, the National Assembly's senior vice-president for policy, also attended the National Assembly's steering committee, legislative and judicial committee, and administrative committee.
At the joint emergency meeting of the National Security Committee, he said, "The reason for impeachment was originally sedition, and nothing has changed. We have only deleted the evaluation part in order to expedite the impeachment trial.
"The House Speaker, Kwon, who organized the matter, is behaving shamelessly," he said.