March 14, 2025
SEOUL – The Constitutional Court of Korea on Thursday dismissed the National Assembly’s impeachment motion against Choe Jae-hae, who had been suspended from his duties as chair of the Board of Audit and Inspection, and three prosecutors, reinstating them immediately to their positions.
Thursday’s rulings were seen as a potential indicator of how the court might approach key issues in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial, including his claim that the main opposition party has obstructed state affairs by impeaching key administration officials.
The court had yet to announce the date for Yoon’s verdict as of Thursday afternoon.
Yoon has argued several times during his trial that the main opposition Democratic Party’s attempts to impeach these four officials were among the reasons behind his decision to declare martial law, claiming that a succession of impeachments of high-ranking officials has paralyzed state affairs.
On Thursday, the court’s eight justices unanimously rejected both Choe and the three prosecutors’ impeachments in rulings delivered separately starting at 10 a.m. This came 98 days after the impeachment motions were submitted to the court by the National Assembly.
“The BAI conducted an audit to determine whether the process of relocating the Presidential Office and residence complied with relevant legal procedures, and nothing appears to suggest an inadequate audit,” said Kim Hyeong-du, one of the justices, in the verdict.
The National Assembly argued that the state-run audit agency exercised its authority in a “politically motivated manner” under Choe’s leadership, allegedly aligning its actions with the interests of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
Regarding allegations that Choe specifically targeted and conducted a politically motivated audit of Jeon Hyun-hee, the former chair of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the court said it is difficult to conclude that “the audit was conducted to pressure Jeon into resigning.”
“The audit was based on multiple reports and covered not only personal oversight of the chairperson but also the administrative affairs of the commission,” the court said.
The court also dismissed the Assembly’s attribution of political motives to Choe’s remarks in 2022 that “the BAI supports the president’s management of state affairs.”
“It was interpreted as meaning that the BAI contributes to the smooth operation of the government through diligent audits, rather than as an unlawful statement,” the court said.
Three Constitutional Court justices — Lee Mi-son, Jung Jung-mi and Chung Kye-sun — issued a separate opinion, acknowledging that Choe had violated the Constitution and the BAI Act by revising an internal regulation to grant audit request authority to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, but stating that the violations were not “severe enough to warrant removal from office.”
Choe, leaving the court, told reporters that he would operate the BAI “in a way that ensures public discipline is upheld so that the people do not feel uneasy.”
“In times of political turmoil like this, it is more important than ever for public officials to fulfill their duties,” he added.
On the same day, the court also unanimously dismissed the impeachments of three prosecutors: Lee Chang-soo, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office; Jo Sang-won, deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office; and Choi Jae-hoon, head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which holds 170 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, argued that the prosecutors improperly dropped charges against first lady Kim Keon Hee regarding her alleged stock price manipulation, failed to properly investigate the case, and made false statements during media briefings.
The court said the prosecution’s decision to question first lady Kim Keon Hee at a third-party location did not constitute an abuse of discretion and that it could not be considered as spreading false information regarding the Deutsche Motors case.
As of Thursday afternoon, the court had not announced a date for Yoon’s verdict. Since it is customary to announce a verdict date two or three days in advance, some speculate that the announcement could come on Friday, with the ruling expected in the early to middle part of next week.