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Feb. 18. (by Kang Chang-kwang

Attention is focusing on what impact Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s arrest on bribery charges will have on the impeachment trial of President Park Geun-hye.

While it appears unlikely to have much impact due to the many other grounds for impeachment besides bribery, it does appear to undercut the argument from Park’s attorneys that the impeachment cannot be sustained unless bribery is proven.

Among the grounds for Park’s impeachment by the National Assembly was the claim that she demanded 20.4 billion won (US$17.7 million) in funding for the Mir and K-Sports Foundations (controlled by Choi Sun-sil) after receiving a request from Samsung for National Pension Service approval of a merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, which was characterized as receipt of a bribe. Bribe taking was also one of the grounds specified in a 2004 Constitutional Court decision rejecting the impeachment of then-President Roh Moo-hyun (in office 2003-2008).

“In cases where a president abuses his or her Constitutionally invested power and position to engage in improper and corrupt actions such as bribe taking, he or she must be seen as having forfeited the trust to govern faithfully and reached a position in which he or she can no longer be entrusted with governance,” the court said at the time.

Citizens gather for a candlelight demonstration at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul calling for President Park Geun-hye to resign

But many in and around the court have argued since the trial’s beginning that it could rule in favor of the impeachment on the basis of other Constitutional and legal violations besides bribe taking.

A direct impact on the impeachment decision appears even less likely with the court setting a final argument date of Feb. 24 after concluding that sufficient hearings had been held.

“Bribe acceptance was not an essential part of the impeachment trial, so Lee’s arrest is not a decisive variable,” said Korea University law professor Chang Young-soo.

“In setting a final argument date prior to the decision on the arrest, the Constitutional Court signaled that it does not plan to take that into consideration in its ruling,” Chang added.

Attorney and former Constitutional researcher No Hee-beom said, “The witness questioning to date is sufficient for the Constitutional Court to make a decision.”

Park’s team has actively denied the bribery allegations, seeing them as central to the grounds for impeachment. Following his appointment to her team, attorney Lee Dong-heup said in two sessions of arguments that the “Samsung-related impeachment grounds cannot be seen as a basis for dismissing the president unless they are proven to be bribery” and that Lee’s first arrest warrant request “was rejected because it was unclear in terms of the law whether it constitute a crime [of bribery].”

But on the day of Lee’s arrest on Feb. 17, Son Beom-gyu, one of Park’s attorneys, offered a different story, saying it would have “no impact on the impeachment trial.”

“While [Lee’s arrest] won’t have a direct impact, it could be a burden for justices who favor dismissing the impeachment, since it hurts the credibility of claims by Park’s team that she was not involved in bribe acceptance,” said Yonsei University law professor Lee Jong-soo.

Sogang University law professor Lim Ji-bong said the arrest “could have an indirect impact on justices because of the way the critical public opinion toward government-business collusion were reaffirmed in the warrant dismissal and issuance process.”

By Kim Min-kyung, staff reporter

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