The second summons was notified of the co-operation.Yoon, shall we attend Christmas?

■ Host: Anchor Lee Eun-sol
■ Starring: Kim Hyung-joon, chair professor at Baejae University

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN 24] when quoting.

[Anchor]
President Yoon Suk Yeol's recall date, which was announced by the Joint Investigation Headquarters, is three days away. As reported, President Yoon sent a second request to attend on the 25th, which is Christmas Day, but there was no response. Let's take a look at it with Kim Hyung-joon, a chair professor at Baejae University. First, let's start with the press conference of the floor leaders of both parties this morning. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea has two independent counsel laws against acting President Han Duck-soo. He urged the independent counsel to promulgate the independent counsel law by the day after tomorrow, and Kwon Sung-dong, acting chairman of the People's Power Party, held a press conference and responded, "The Democratic Party of Korea is causing a riot of the independent counsel."
How did you see it?

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
Aren't there two biggest issues? The recommendation process is whether to exercise the right to re-vote in relation to the special prosecution and the National Assembly's appointment of three constitutional judges. When it is completed, there are two issues that Acting President Han Deok-soo should appoint without delay. First of all, there may be various legal debates in the process. For example, in the case of Kwon Sung-dong, the floor leader of the People's Power, who is talking about now, there is a part that the acting authority cannot appoint.

Another thing is that this can be seen as the karma of the Democratic Party in a way. Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae appointed Lee Sun-ae as Constitutional Judge during the impeachment of President Park Geun Hye in 2016 on March 8, 2017. I nominated him, and what the Democratic Party said at the time was that Rep. Choo Mi-ae or Rep. Woo Sang-ho said Hwang Kyo-ahn could not appoint a constitutional judge. There is room for such an attack, such as not at that time and not now. Another thing is that representative Kwon Sung-dong is saying that it is unfair to recommend a constitutional judge because it is the same as a prosecutor nominating a judge at a time when the president's impeachment bill is prosecuted by the National Assembly.

On the other hand, in the case of the Democratic Party of Korea, since this is the recommendation of the National Assembly, of course, the acting authority has formal authority, so it should be appointed. If not, floor leader Park Chan-dae used a pressure card today. Didn't you set the date? He told them to make a determination regarding the special prosecutor by the 24th. Otherwise, in relation to the civil war, the harsh terms such as conspiracy or acting as a civil war were used.

After all, I think they emphasize that they can do the things about preemptive impeachment that the Democrats talk about. But the point to note here is whether it's right to keep pressuring the acting president in this way, regardless of the reason. For example, the impeachment motion is the power of the National Assembly. Then the re-voting right is the president's authority. The power we can use is fine and the president should not veto it, it doesn't make sense. That is a denial of constitutional values.

Since the acting president is responsible for the president's duties, it may not be logically and legally correct to ask him to accept it without making a resolution unconditionally. In that sense, shouldn't you watch this calmly instead of using a pressure card? Otherwise, there are concerns about whether we can continue to impeach acting Han Deok-soo and then solve the problem when the next step is Choi Sang-mok, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, goes this way.

[Anchor]
The water level is rising. Isn't the attendance request for President Yoon a concern earlier? Shall we take the 2nd round?

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
I think it's going to be hard. I think there are two reasons. One is that usually, you form a team of lawyers before attending. I don't think it's that easy to form a defense team. Because if you try to form a defense team, it will be difficult for people in large law firms to participate, for various reasons. As a result, there is a logic that he will go when the lawyer's composition is completed because the suspect is charged with rebellion. Another thing is why they repeatedly ask for attendance, and I think the president thinks that it is not a step to get an arrest warrant in the end. If you continue to refuse in this way, the bodyguard now refuses to accept it, but if you go with an arrest warrant from the court, it is difficult to defend the bodyguard. With those things in mind, I think they interpret it as asking us to continue to attend. And lastly, as I said a while ago today, if this is passed in relation to the special prosecution for civil war, all investigations will have to be unified as special prosecutors. Then, we have no choice but to go out as a special prosecutor. I think they are also considering whether there is a need to go to the collaborative book and be investigated.

[Anchor]
Why do you think the formation of the defense team is delayed?

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
For example, during the impeachment of President Park Geun Hye in 2016, Choi Soon-sil's manipulation of state affairs and various corruption-related issues related to Choi Soon-sil were on the side, but now it is a huge issue. Since I am a suspect, I have no choice but to need the help of constitutional scholars and various experts on this part. As a result, as the formation of the lawyers has been delayed, criticism is rising that the trial may be delayed. And the Constitutional Court has set a hearing date in advance for what the president thinks is not fair.

So, for example, if you receive an official letter, you have to give it a deadline of 20 days from the date you receive it because it is moved by the Criminal Procedure Act, but since the hearing date is set on the 2nd, it seems that the president's office is not fair. Anyway, it is unlikely that the president will appear on the 25th for the second round of attendance requests. However, if the Constitutional Court continues to refuse to receive it on the 23rd, we have to wait and see if it will take action. Once the court is not formed, I would like to say that there are parts that will inevitably delay the preparation date for the hearing.

[Anchor]
Some criticize that the prosecution has also been unified into the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit, and that the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit has rarely produced results. What is your outlook on this part?

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
But legally, we have no choice but to judge. When the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit was first created, there is a Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit Act. If the same cases are investigated in several places under the Public Offices Act, aren't they supposed to be transferred to the Public Offices? Accordingly, the prosecution has transferred the investigation related to President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Minister of Public Administration and Security Lee Sang-min to the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. That doesn't mean the prosecution will finish everything. The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit does not have the power to prosecute. So, even if the investigation is complete, there is something that can be reviewed there by going back to the prosecution. Of course, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit has less manpower and less expertise than the general prosecution. If you look at the activities of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit in the meantime, there are people who are concerned about it because there have been few activities, so I think it will eventually be unified as a special prosecutor over time. Since the special prosecutor mobilizes a much larger number of manpower and the period is very long, I think we will go that way.

[Anchor]
There is also the right to prosecute, and eventually, it could be unified as a special prosecutor.

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
Because the special prosecutor has both the right to prosecute and investigate. During the impeachment of President Park Geun Hye in 2016, after the parliamentary investigation, weren't all the independent counsel Park Young-soo unified? It makes me think that it is a structure that has no choice but to go in that procedure.

[Anchor]
We're preparing for the first hearing. Looking at the contents of the National Assembly's impeachment investigation team, they announced a delegation of 17 lawyers. But here came a remarkable figure. It's a controversy about former Constitutional Judge Kim Yi-soo, what kind of controversy is it and what is the background?

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
According to the delegation formed by the National Assembly, it seems that the former Constitutional Court justice and Kim Yi-soo are included. Isn't this what we're talking about as a conflict of interests? I won't, but if you've been a constitutional judge for six years, for example, there are various relationships with the judge or the person you work with, so he shouldn't take charge of it. Isn't that basic common sense?

Nevertheless, I was surprised to see that he participated like that, but if there is something that could cause more fairness to the National Assembly's representatives, I think there is plenty of room for criticism as to why former Constitutional Court justice Kim Lee-soo should be included.

[Anchor]
At the time of the impeachment trial of President Park Geun Hye, he participated in the hearing and sentencing as a judge.

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
Of course, there is experience in various situations and extensive knowledge of whether the process takes place in them. But as I said earlier, what's the most important thing about impeaching the president? It's a matter of fairness for the Constitutional Court. I keep talking about speed, but I don't really agree on speed. Because rather than setting a date and doing it accordingly, if this issue is very important, there are some parts that need to be done more carefully and strictly.


If fairness collapses by going out more, wouldn't it be difficult to accept the outcome of the trial if fairness collapses not only in the constitutional trial but also in the general court? In that sense, the Constitutional Court is most interested in fairness. In that sense, the current justice of the Constitutional Court has to be very careful about his actions. For example, how long do you want to finish it while working outside? In this way, we meet with lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Korea, and such things can only be seen as a very inappropriate behavior.

Furthermore, if this is wrong, the Constitutional Court should never play the media because there are parts that can spark quite a political conflict in Korea. I think we need this attitude to solve this problem from a very neutral standpoint without suffering from the media.

[Anchor]
They saw that fairness rather than speed could increase reliability. Let's move on to acting Han Deok-soo. We also had a meeting today. The Democratic Party of Korea is in the position that it will proceed with impeachment immediately if it does not receive two special investigations.

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
As I said earlier, isn't it that you're going to use it as a card to keep pressuring the acting president? For example, as I said just a moment ago, acting Han Deok-soo vetoed six bills. Because there are a lot of anti-market and anti-unconstitutional elements there, so I rejected it. It is against the spirit of the Constitution that the National Assembly must accept all the resolutions, for example. The most important principle in the presidential system is checks and balances. When checks and balances collapse, in the end, one side has unilateral power and can take an unwavering step through that power, so it is prevented.

So you have to watch it calmly. So the deadline for the veto is January 1st. Then, if you've been entrusted with the task of acting as an acting authority, you'll have to watch it in your own way, putting pressure before that. President Yoon Suk Yeol, who tried to take control of the National Assembly with power, was impeached, so can the National Assembly be justified in doing everything at its disposal just because it has power? I see no justification. So again, there shouldn't be an emergency martial law. Does that mean that all the Democrats' actions can be justified? It's an illusion. In that sense, I think we should refrain from it and show a mature appearance of following the procedure.

[Anchor]
After the resignation of former CEO Han Dong-hoon, didn't he select the People's Power and People's Power Emergency Response Committee? There is a conflict between Chin Yoon and Bi Yoon, what do you think?

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
There's an inherent conflict. In fact, when President Park Geun Hye was impeached in 2016, those who supported impeachment eventually left the party and formed a new political party called the Bareun Party, including Kim Moo-sung, led by Representative Yoo Seung Min, right? There is no immediate talk of leaving the party, but of course, there is a factional conflict over the pros and cons of impeachment. Looking at the current situation, will the people be so free? How will we overcome this crisis by uniting as one? However, there is something we need to worry about politically, but some say that a person who voted for impeachment should not be the chairman of the emergency committee, is that politically possible? Eighty-five members of the people's power are now opposed to impeachment.

There are 12 people who are in favor of it, but when those who are against it say no, can someone come in and run the party stably? Rather, you have to come up with a reverse idea. In any case, we need to take care of this party well and consider whether we are pro-Yoon or close or against it. That's not the important thing, but how you have the will to change the party when you become the emergency committee chairman and have experience and experience, and whether you approve or disapprove of impeachment. We came in from outside and asked to do it, but haven't there been several emergency committee chairmen from outside? Then, since there is also a question of how much mission they will do with a sense of duty, I think that opinions are being collected on whether it should be done as a member of the party and a senior member.

[Anchor]
However, if the floor leader is also the top two in pro-Yoon-gye, it is expected to be criticized that there is no remorse.

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
That's a problem that the power of the people has to solve on their own. I have no choice but to take it. In terms of the structure, whether it's pro-yoon or pro-yoon, and saying hello close to each other is change and innovation, and if it's pro-yoon, is it a retreat? The current situation structure is not that way. So, what I told you is that no matter who is in charge of it, if you declare the dissolution of factions on intimate and pro-yoon, present a blueprint to lead change and reform somehow, and make bold reforms that have never been done before, the people will judge it, and we cannot conclude that the power of the people has not changed at all because of the pro-yoon color, right? Politics should be evaluated based on its subsequent steps, and if it is evaluated based on the past, I think there is no solution.

[Anchor]
Meanwhile, isn't Roh Sang-won, the former intelligence commander, arrested on charges of plotting in advance of emergency martial law for the hamburger store meeting?
could be a smoking gun that reveals the whole story of martial law, what do you think about this?

[KIM HYEONGJUN]
Well, there seems to be a legal debate on that part as well. From the question of whether we can be punished unconditionally for plotting martial law, that is not the warning martial law that the president said. If the situation showing that it was a very prepared martial law is confirmed through this, of course, there are parts that can be related to the crime of rebellion, so there are parts where the former intelligence commander Roh Sang-won simply participated and how he participated can be a detonator. So the police are also saying that they have secured various notebooks at the former commander Roh's home.

This is a geeky legal argument. So, what we should be careful about even now is that President Yoon Suk Yeol is a rebellion, and those who opposed impeachment are unconditionally a rebellion co-conspirator. You can't do that kind of frame. Because no case has been decided in relation to the crime of rebellion. I'm just saying that the political situation is a crime of rebellion, but it's legally decided. In that way, they don't say about CEO Lee Jae-myung that both Baekhyun-dong and Daejang-dong committed criminal acts.

Representative Lee Jae-myung himself said on the 15th that he would be able to participate in the second trial even if he was deprived of his right to run for election. So the most important thing is that I shouldn't say definitively and conclusively after all. So, I think that's the part where we can talk about that only when the investigation or the judgment comes out calmly.

[Anchor]
It looks like a legal review is needed. So far, we've talked with Kim Hyung-joon, chair professor at Baejae University. Thank you for talking today.