Park Geun-hye’s lawyer on Friday condemned the Constitutional Court’s decision to expel her as “biased,” accusing the judges of having made the conclusion without examining sufficient evidence.
“President Park’s personality was murdered by the court’s biased decision,” Seo Seog-goo told reporters after the ruling.
He said the entire trial was “unfair,” taking issue with the court’s denial of the application by Park’s lawyers for “massive evidence.”
“Today’s unanimous decision tells me that they may have had already reached the conclusion when they rejected our application,” Seo added.
Seo Seog-goo (Ock Hyun-ju/The Korea Herald)
But when asked if his comment represents objections the defense counsel had agreed on, he said it was his personal opinion and would discuss whether to appeal with Park’s other attorneys.
Cheong Wa Dae said Park has no plan to issue any statement Friday. Other lawyers including Lee Joong-hwan kept mum in response to reporters’ questions, while Kim Pyung-woo, who staged what was dubbed a 90-minute filibuster during a Feb. 22 trial, did not show up at the court.
The lawyers have threatened to appeal if the court upholds Park’s impeachment based on the reason that the trial was led by eight judges, one short of the nine-member bench.
But the move is unlikely to materialize as an appeal trial is only held when the court finds out they failed to review crucial charges that could have affected the ruling, legal experts say. In 2012, the court dismissed the request for a review of its decision that disbanded a left-wing party sympathetic to North Korea.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers, which represented the legislative body during the impeachment trial, applauded the court for delivering a “historic verdict that upholds the value of the rule of law and sovereignty of the people’s rule.”
“We confirm that in fact all powers come from the people and they are the owners of our country,” said Rep. Kwon Seong-dong of the Bareun Party, a chairman of the parliamentary legislation and judiciary committee. “We also confirm the fact every citizen is under the rule of law, regardless of whether it is the president.”
The lawmaker stressed the need for national unity and political reform in a country polarized over the impeachment trial, urging the people to respect the court’s decision “unconditionally” and pursue Constitutional amendment to fix the current five-year single-term presidency.
By Yeo Jun-suk (
jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)