Prosecutors push back as Democratic Party plans impeachment vote

[Anchor]

The Democratic Party plans to process the impeachment motion next week without a hearing for the prosecutors investigating the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case.

The backlash from the prosecution has intensified.

Following the deputy chief prosecutors of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, today (11.27), the chief prosecutors urged to halt the impeachment, and the Minister of Justice countered that they should impeach him instead of the prosecutors.

Continuing with Kim So-young's report.

[Report]

Chief prosecutors of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office posted a statement on the internal network of the prosecution in opposition to the Democratic Party's push for the impeachment of the leadership.

Just a day after holding a meeting to discuss countermeasures, all 33 division chiefs with assigned posts, except for Choi Jae-hoon, the head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 and the subject of impeachment, participated.

They argued that the Democratic Party's push for impeachment is an "unconstitutional and illegal attempt that undermines the fundamental values of the Constitution" and "directly infringes upon the essential functions of the prosecution."

They also emphasized that "if the functions of the Central District Prosecutors' Office, the largest prosecution office in the country, are threatened, investigations and trials will be delayed, leading to increased inconvenience for the public."

They stated that pushing ahead with the impeachment process despite such circumstances was a disregard for the constitutional principle of the separation of powers and urged for its immediate suspension.

Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae, who attended the National Assembly's Legislative and Judiciary Committee, countered that they should impeach him instead of the prosecutors.

[Park Sung-jae/Minister of Justice: "If you are questioning political responsibility, I think it would be more appropriate to impeach or dismiss the Minister of Justice, who is the highest supervisor of prosecution affairs."]

Regarding the non-indictment of First Lady Kim Keon-hee,the Democratic Party is seeking to impeach three prosecutors: Lee Chang-soo, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Cho Sang-won, the fourth deputy chief, and Choi Jae-hoon, a division chief."

The Democratic Party plans to report the impeachment motion against them to the National Assembly plenary session on Dec. 2 and put it to a vote on Dec. 4.

This is KBS News Kim So-young.