Prosecutors criticize DP's pursue of prosecutor impeachment

[Anchor]

The Democratic Party is once again pushing for the impeachment of prosecutors, and the prosecution is strongly opposing this move.

Deputy Chief Prosecutors of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, where their chief prosecutor and others are subject to impeachment, urged to stop what they call unconstitutional impeachment attempts.

Reporter Hyun Ye-seul has the story.

[Report]

The prosecutors that the Democratic Party aims to impeach are Lee Chang-soo, the Head of the Seoul Central Disctict Prosecutors' Office, Deputy Chief Prosecutors Jo Sang-won and Choi Jae-hoon.

The Democratic Party argues that their decision not to indict in the case involving allegations of stock price manipulation related to First Lady Kim Keon-hee last month constitutes dereliction of duty.

In response, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jo Sang-won, who is subject to impeachment, met with reporters last week and stated, "The National Assembly's impeachment power is clearly being abused."

Today (11.26), three other deputy prosecutors from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office posted a joint statement on the internal network of the prosecution, criticizing the Democratic Party's push for impeachment.

They stated, "Attempting to impeach a prosecutor simply because the investigation results are not to their liking is an indiscriminate abuse of power," and urged to "stop the unconstitutional and abusive attempts at impeachment."

They particularly pointed out that proceeding with impeachment despite the lack of valid grounds is aimed at suspending the duties of public officials.

If the impeachment bill passes in the National Assembly, the duties of Chief Prosecutor Lee Chang-soo and others will be immediately suspended until the Constitutional Court's ruling is issued.

Last September, for the first time in constitutional history, an impeachment motion against Prosecutor Ahn Dong-wan passed the National Assembly but was dismissed by the Constitutional Court.

So far, under the leadership of the Democratic Party, impeachment motions have been proposed against seven prosecutors, with three motions passing in the National Assembly. The impeachment motions against Prosecutor Ahn and Prosecutor Lee Jung-seob were dismissed by the Constitutional Court, while the motion against Prosecutor Son Jun-sung is still pending in the Constitutional Court.

This is KBS News, Hyun Ye-seul.