South Korea’s opposition party puts in a vote to remove the interior and safety minister

The largest opposition party in South Korea, the Democratic Party of South Korea, filed an impeachment motion against Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min on Saturday (Dec. 7). They say he was involved in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law this week.

The liberal party sent the impeachment move to the National Assembly at 10:30 am (9:30 am Malaysia time), according to a statement.

On December 7, during the plenary session, the party plans to report the move. This is also the date on which the vote to impeach President Yoon will occur.

On December 10, there will be a vote to remove the minister from office.

Kim Min-seok, the senior party leader of the liberal party, called for immediate action against the minister the day before, saying that he “conspired to plan the illegal martial law, distorted the proceedings of a Cabinet meeting to approve such a matter, and defended the illegal martial law.”

Kim also suggested that there might be another attempt to impose martial law and requested the removal of Lee’s authority under the Martial Law Act of South Korea.

The Act says that only the ministers of defense and interior can suggest martial law to the president. However, it was Kim Yong-hyun, who used to be the defense minister, who suggested that Yoon declare martial law.

Since Kim resigned, Lee is the only Cabinet member with that power.

Lee could face impeachment for the second time. The National Assembly tried to remove him from office in February 2023 because of how he handled the Itaewon crowd crush.

In the end, the Constitutional Court threw out his impeachment in July. After the court made its ruling, Lee went back to doing his job as a minister.