[Editorial] Shameful Park shuns appearance at final arguments

Posted on : 2017-02-27 16:55 KST Modified on : 2017-02-27 16:55 KST
President Park Geun-hye (Blue House photo pool)
President Park Geun-hye (Blue House photo pool)

The final arguments before the Constitutional Court in President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial will be held on the afternoon of Feb. 27. The court is expected to finish reviewing the case during that hearing and then, following deliberations, to make its final decision on Park’s impeachment no later than Mar. 13. The impeachment train has been barreling forward, and now it’s getting closer to its final destination.

Park finally decided not to appear before the Constitutional Court. It was not until late in the afternoon on Feb. 26 when Park’s attorneys informed the court that she would not be appearing at the final arguments. Park is free to decide whether or not to appear before the court, so she can’t be blamed for not appearing. But it is sad to see her unable to confidently assert her innocence before the court when she has made farfetched claims outside of the court in press conferences and interviews.

The likely reason that Park resolved not to appear before the court is because she was concerned she would not be able to provide satisfactory responses to questions by the court’s judges. Indeed, given what has been found by the Special Prosecutor’s investigation to date, Park would be hard pressed to argue her innocence regardless of her eloquence. Park has in the end only created confusion for the court by delaying the trial without actually making an appearance. On top of that, Park is poised to get away with not participating in in-person questioning by the Special Prosecutor, contradicting her former agreement. What an impudent and mean president this is!

The final arguments before the Constitutional Court are the last chance for the attorneys representing the National Assembly and the president to make their case about whether Park’s impeachment should be upheld or overturned. But there are serious concerns that this hearing will devolve into a forum for sophistic arguments by Park‘s attorneys rather than ordinary legal debate. Kim Pyeong-woo, one of those attorneys, appeared during an anti-impeachment protest on Feb. 25 and declared that the impeachment trial was a “farce.” “This isn’t the Joseon Dynasty,” Kim said, “so why should we submit to the decision of the Constitutional Court just because they tell us to?” These remarks are so sophomoric that you have to wonder whether the man is even a lawyer who studied the law. The very act of bringing such twisted logic to the final arguments in the Constitutional Court disrespects South Korea’s Constitution and degrades the rule of law.

In their final arguments, Park’s attorneys are likely to argue that the trial procedures should be suspended until there are nine justices on the Constitutional Court. But this is nothing more than a smokescreen designed to obscure the point of the impeachment and to delay the trial. In order to minimize the national chaos resulting from the political interference by shadowy figures and the power vacuum caused by the president’s vacancy, the case should be tried and a decision made with as many judges as are currently available. All sensible lawyers are in agreement that the court must reach a decision on the impeachment before the term of Lee Jung-mi, acting president of the Constitutional Court, comes to an end. Park’s attorneys need to discard their absurd arguments about the need to delay the ruling on her impeachment and offer a decent explanation of why her impeachment ought to be overturned.

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