Lee Eon-ju, "Retraction of the rebellion crime? It means that there is no need to presuppose the establishment of a crime."

[YTN radio news fighting]

□ Broadcasting: FM 94.5 (07:15-09:00)
□ Broadcast date and time: January 6, 2025 (Monday)
□ Host: Kim Woo-sung PD
□ Castor: Lee Eon-joo, supreme council member of the Democratic Party of Korea

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

[Please clarify that this is the interview content of YTN Radio <News Fighting>]]

◆ PD Kim Woo-sung (hereinafter referred to as Kim Woo-sung): Yes, some people think that many people are a little contradictory. It's about spears and shields. Every time the Democratic Party's spear is stabbed, the shield is blocked again. How should we solve this Jung Kook? Lee Eon-joo, a member of the Supreme Council of the Democratic Party of Korea, came to the studio in person. Please come in.

◇ Lee Eon-ju, Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea (hereinafter referred to as Lee Eon-ju): Yes, hello.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: Yes, the impeachment trial is now in the process, and the opposition party is reacting very strongly to the removal of the crime of rebellion from the reasons for impeachment of the impeachment motion. There seems to be a saying within the power of the people that it is fraudulent impeachment, that it should be canceled, that it should be re-voted.

◇ Lee Eon-ju: It's not without the crime of rebellion. I think it's a problem to see him talk like that. I think like this, but now it may be difficult for the people to understand because these are legal terms. So to explain a little bit, it's a constitutional trial now. The impeachment trial is. So the constitutional trial and the criminal trial are a little different. So the constitutional trial is especially a disciplinary trial. That's why I'm dismissing the president. So in general, disciplinary proceedings are often overlapped with certain criminal proceedings. For the same reason, disciplinary action is punished in criminal cases, but usually disciplinary action is disciplined if the crime is roughly explained to some extent, even if the judgment is not confirmed in a criminal case. You can think of it as the same principle as that. So, even if the crime of rebellion is not completely confirmed or established, the fact of the crime of rebellion, that is, the fact that it is a rebellion, is recognized, and the constitutional trial is unconstitutional on the premise of the fact that it is a rebellion. It's okay if there's a serious unconstitutional offense. Therefore, it is important for the impeachment trial to be recognized that the president violated his duty to protect the Constitution. So it's the same thing, but the president declared an unconstitutional emergency martial law, for example, undermining the function of the National Assembly and violating the Constitutional Election Commission, thus disrupting the constitutional order. This is the content of the impeachment trial. And it's the same thing, but in this way, the crime of rebellion was established. This is what the criminal trial is about. That's why the expression is the same, but the criminal trial comes out as the establishment of rebellion, and now the impeachment trial has violated its duty to protect the Constitution by committing constitutional disorder through unconstitutional emergency martial law. But the content is the same. The content is the same act of rebellion.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: Then if you look at the case of former President Park Geun Hye, the impeachment trial was cited and the president was fired before he was actually punished for third-party bribery. You're saying we can see it in the same logic, right?

◇ [Eonju Lee] That's right. So, if you look at it at that time, there were bribes and abuse of authority. That's why bribery and abuse of authority were impeached as a violation of President Park Geun Hye's duty to protect the Constitution. The same act, the same act, the same act, and the same act of abuse of authority was judged in the criminal trial for abuse of authority and punished. That's why the expression is a little different, the procedure is different, and the process of proving it is different, but there is the same cause. So the facts that are premised are the same.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: But I think it's because of some remarks by Judge Jung Young-sik that why are you withdrawing the claim that it is a criminal offense on the second preparatory date?

◇ [Eon-Joo Lee] So you asked me, "Do you mean that you're withdrawing from the fact that it's a crime?" What that means is that it is not necessary to presuppose the establishment of a crime.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: You don't mean you're going to get it in court?

◇ Eonju Lee: Yes, that's right. That's why I said that I don't have to wait until a crime is established in the criminal trial, and I'll only pick whether it violates the constitution here. There's nothing wrong with that. And what is discussed in it is an act of rebellion.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: Yes, this is not a criminal law for rebellion. The Constitutional Court, which goes up to the third trial, will determine the basis for the president's dismissal. You just explained,

◇ Lee Eon-ju: The content is an act of rebellion.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: However, within the power of the people such as Representative Kim Sang-wook, he is fiercely criticizing whether the part that he voted at that time is the purpose of wrapping up before the second sentence of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition party. How do you interpret the responses of these people's power lawmakers?

◇ [Eon-Joo Lee] That's because I don't know the difference between an impeachment trial and a criminal trial.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: It's not excluding civil war. In conclusion?

◇ Eonju Lee: Of course, it contains all the acts of rebellion. So, there's an explanation of the rebellion. However, the establishment of a criminal rebellion is not premised on this, but the act of rebellion is just this content, and the constitutional violations required by the Constitutional Court are only concluded at the end. Then, the frame is different.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: From the perspective of a constitutional trial,

◇ You can understand that the frame is different. Then, in the past, Kwon Seong-dong was a member of the impeachment committee. During the Park Geun Hye impeachment trial, Kwon Sung-dong, chairman of the impeachment committee, rewritten it during the Park Geun Hye trial at that time. That's how

◆ Kim Woosung: Yes

◇ Lee Eon-ju: I did the same thing then.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: Kwon Sung-dong denies Kwon Sung-dong when he says it's a steamed bun without a steamed bun. Words are going back and forth right now. I think I need to ask you about the situation of the Hannam-dong residence and the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. In the end, I'll ask you in detail about this later, but both sides criticized the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. There are accusations that he couldn't arrest him even though he opened the way. On the other hand, controversy continues to conflict over what authority the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit has to enter the presidential residence and arrest the president. Please organize it for me.

◇ [Eon-Joo Lee] If you look at our Constitution. The president has the privilege of not arresting and immunity over there. So the president is not prosecuted for crimes while in office. But there are only two exceptions. The crime of rebellion and foreign exchange is so important that if the president causes the crime of rebellion or foreign exchange, it becomes a prosecution. President Yoon Suk Yeol is accused of foreign exchange, but more fundamentally, he is now accused of rebellion. So, unlike the president of Park Geun Hye, you can't compare it with the president of Park Geun Hye. President Yoon Suk Yeol is not a presidential immunity right now. That's why it's subject to prosecution. That's why they're being investigated. You're also asked to attend. And you're also subject to arrest. Even the president has committed a crime that is no exception. That's why illegal and unconstitutional emergency martial law is a crime of rebellion, so the police or the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit requested attendance according to the charges. That's why I asked for Chuseok three times. But it's the same for all Koreans, but they didn't respond to our request for Chuseok. Then I have to investigate, but what should I do if I don't come? Shouldn't we arrest them and investigate them? That's why I went to arrest him. Since they don't investigate, they don't respond to the investigation, so what is it is that if you are proud of yourself, come out and investigate. But they don't come out for investigation. That's why I have no choice but to go arrest him. That's why the court issued an arrest warrant. Then, he even issued a search warrant in case he ran away or couldn't find it. That's right. Let's search together.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: Controversy over Article 10 exception

◇ [Eonju Lee] That's right. So, with the court's warrant, the investigative agency legally went to arrest him, and he resisted this. This is a lot of work. Because no one in our country has ever resisted investigations or resisted warrants, resisted them in droves, and blocked them with violence to stop them. This is a resistance to public power, a resistance to law and order, and a resistance to the Constitution. So, strictly speaking, there was a civil war that disrupted the constitutional order by infiltrating the function of the National Assembly. So, I'm under investigation for that, but this time, I resisted the judicial order and the public power of the investigative agency, and illegally and unconstitutionally used the power of the security office to undermine the judicial function. It's a disturbance of the constitutional order again. This is another civil war. Legally, this is very serious, and it's a big problem for the Korean people to stop this by violence when someone brought a warrant. If you overlook this, you can never do it. So I can't just leave it alone. In the end, this is a matter of our public power, so legal order and constitutional order. So-called, what the Constitution says is a liberal democratic basic order. Protecting our laws is protecting the freedom of all citizens. So, to protect this liberal democratic basic order, it must be enforced.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: You've already expressed that it's another civil war. On January 4th, however, the harsh expression that there is no alternative other than the death penalty

◇ [Eon-Joo Lee] So what it means is that if you have to quarantine in a certain society, you have to do it. For example, there was a criminal who asked me to come out for investigation, but it didn't come out, so the court issued a warrant and went to arrest him. I went to make an arrest to investigate. If it doesn't come out, you can get arrested and investigated, but if you use force, then this is not a gangster or a gangster, right? That's why they block it. They use personal violence to commit crimes. That's why it's becoming a lawless place. You can't leave this. Isn't it so? No one in our nation has the right to do this. Who would peck at such privileges? As I said earlier, the constitution stipulates that rebellion is not subject to immunity. So he's in a super-legal position now, completely ignoring the Constitution and the law, and all the people are watching it live, and the whole world is watching it live now. Then what will happen to Korea?

◆ Kim Woo-sung: Contrary to President Yoon Suk Yeol's willingness to confidently participate in the investigation and impeachment trial anyway, he does not appear, so on the surface, there are aspects that are constantly seen only as conflicts and fights between state agencies.

◇ Eon-Joo Lee: It's not a state agency. The bodyguard is now an illegal agency here. We're a state agency where the people are running with taxpayers' money. Obviously, but this is an illegal act. Because it prevents the execution of court-issued warrants, there is no basis. And the court's issuance of an execution warrant filed an objection, but it was rejected. The court has now rejected yesterday's application because it is legal.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: In the interview with the head of security, the law is ambiguous and could be violated

◇ Lee Eon-joo: Then no, that's why it was dismissed, and the court issued it legally. Then, in Korea, in the future. The felons were issued a warrant by the court. So I told him to come out, but he didn't. So if you go to arrest them with a warrant and these felons or gang members set up and insist that there is a problem with this warrant, can't you just leave it and catch it? And if the public power goes and holds out for violence, does the public power come out of the way? What happens to the Republic of Korea? It's not working. This is a very serious thing and will affect all of our people going forward. This is a matter of national discipline. It's a matter of the basic liberal democratic order I mentioned earlier. So I'm a law-and-order issue, but in a way, this is the value of conservatism. Then it's Yoon Suk Yeol who is completely trampling on the value of conservatism. Then, if we look at it now, the Democratic Party has become a party that protects the values of conservatism. And in fact, the Democratic Party of Korea is very large right now, so in a way, the Democratic Party encompasses everything from moderate progressive to moderate conservative, but the Democratic Party is really protecting the value of conservative in the future. The current situation is

◆ [Kim Woo-sung] He talked about the basic principle that the law should be applied equally to everyone.

◇ Didn't you always say it yourself? So, in the name of law and order, in fact, the former president of Park Geun Hye, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Yang Seung-tae, and the ruling and opposition parties have drawn countless blood tears. Why does he make such an exception and privileges to others, but since this is so serious, he rarely uses violence and its force? This is something that can never be overlooked.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: There is a view that a lawyer has also been appointed and is taking some time by considering various legal procedures one by one. On that matter, the head of the opposition party called

◇ I don't think so. Every one of these is an accomplice to the rebellion that interferes with the execution of special public affairs. I think each and every one of them will be punished later, but in fact, those top leaders are like that. What are the young people who have no choice but to receive orders and fulfill their duties? If you look here, there will be people who have no choice but to do it because they are ordered to fulfill their duties. It's a very cruel thing. This is

◆ Kim Woo-sung: President Yoon Suk Yeol continues to talk about the logic of whether the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit can investigate the crime of rebellion, and the people's power also asserts that the special prosecution is more interested in the special prosecution, but the people's power is now saying that they will vote it down by a single team. Some people seem to be talking about amendments, but how should the special prosecutor resolve the bill?

◇ Lee Eon-joo: First of all, the court ruled on it by rejecting the appeal against the warrant, saying that the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit has the authority to investigate the abuse of authority and that it is a rebellion related to the abuse of authority. Therefore, it has already been said that the court's position itself has authority because it was judged. So I'll clarify that, and I hope you respect the position of the judiciary or this interpretation. They say what happened to this conservative party, and they ignore the law and go wild. I'm in trouble. These people

◆ [Kim Woo-sung] What do you think is the background?

◇ I don't think that's why it's not a conservative party.

◆ [Kim Woo-sung] Is the reason why this is done a little bit like this, is it the intention of consolidating the supporters or expanding the power? What do you think?

◇ I think that's why I think I'm getting pushed back now. If you start to admit that it's actually wrong and there's a problem, you're pushed. If you start apologizing, you're pushed. So I think it is, but I don't think it is. In the end, the people are all laughing at me now. About 20%? It has between 15% and 20% of its supporters. Of course, but believing in them and doing politics shouldn't be like that if you think about the country, and now that it's like this, Korea's external credibility and economy are very serious. It's being affected, but what's more serious is that the foreign media's response is very cynical. Because it's like an arrest warrant. An arrest warrant was issued for the suspended president, and it came out that the president was resisting the warrant by force. In other countries, so this sounds like a great underdeveloped country, and it has a huge impact on our economy. This is

◆ [Kim Woo-sung] That's what the BBC had to say. Is it this hard?

◇ Lee Eon-joo: It's embarrassing, so anyway, what do I need for this special prosecutor? Now that various institutions are doing it now, these things have to be put together later. And the fact is that we are not doing a proper investigation right now, but the arrest of the president here and such things are not working, so in fact, it has been delivered to local governments because martial law has been carried out nationwide. That's why each local government's order for martial law was also issued to local governments. The declaration of martial law makes it inevitable to investigate this. But it hasn't even started yet, has it? So who's going to do all these things?

◆ Kim Woo-sung: Yes, I need a comprehensive investigation.

◇ [Eon-Joo Lee] That's right. We need a comprehensive investigation. In some ways, and in fact, it is necessary to do some leniency to those who simply participate. We need to control the water level comprehensively, but some levels may be different for each institution, so shouldn't we have an institution that comprehensively organizes it like this a little later? That's why I think we need an independent counsel.

◆ [Kim Woosung] Okay. Then, we have about 20 seconds left in the recount. There seems to be a lot of interest in the possibility of voting on the people's power departure. How do you see it?

◇ I think it has to be done. First of all, as I said earlier, I saw that public power and law and order are ignored in front of the people, so first of all, the arrest should be made quickly. So if the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit fails, I will tell you to hand it over to an institution that can and is willing to do it.

◆ [Kim Woo-sung] We have to invite him again. We're running out of time. That's all for today's talk. Thank you.

◇ [Eonju Lee] Thank you.

◆ Kim Woo-sung: I was the supreme council member Lee Eon-joo.