Since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office, South Korea’s opposition-led National Assembly has filed 29 impeachment motions against high-ranking government officials, yet not a single case has been upheld by the Constitutional Court. Of these, nine impeachments have passed under the 22nd National Assembly, which was launched in May last year. To handle these cases, the Assembly has hired 35 lawyers, with more than half affiliated with the opposition—either tied to the Democratic Party, the previous Moon Jae-in administration, or progressive legal groups. The legal fees for these representatives have been fully funded by taxpayers, totaling 360 million won ($250,000) from last year to this year, with each lawyer receiving around 10 million won ($7,000) per case.
According to data submitted by the National Assembly Secretariat to ruling People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook, 22 of the 35 lawyers (62.9%) representing the Assembly in impeachment cases had ties to the opposition. This includes 13 lawyers who worked for the Democratic Party or held public office under the Moon Jae-in administration, and nine who were affiliated with progressive legal groups such as Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) or civic organizations like People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. In contrast, only five lawyers (14.3%) had links to the PPP or conservative groups, while the remaining eight (22.9%) had no clear political affiliations.
Legal and political circles have criticized that “the National Assembly’s repeated impeachment motions under the Yoon administration have turned into job opportunities for opposition-leaning lawyers.” They argue that the Democratic Party has led the impeachment proceedings against public officials while disproportionately appointing opposition-aligned lawyers to represent the National Assembly in Constitutional Court trials. The National Assembly Secretariat, however, said that detailed legal fee records cannot be disclosed under the Official Information Disclosure Act.
Lee Jin-sook, chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, was impeached by the Democratic Party-led National Assembly just two days after taking office in August last year. However, the Constitutional Court dismissed the case in January. The National Assembly appointed lawyers Lim Yun-tae, Jang Ju-young, and Jeong Kyung-wook as its legal representatives for the impeachment trial. Lim had previously served as a legal advisor to Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung and ran as a Democratic Party preliminary candidate for Namyangju-gap district, Gyeonggi Province, in the general election last April. Jang, a former president of Minbyun, led the Government Legal Service under the Moon Jae-in administration. Jeong, in contrast, is a former deputy spokesperson for the ruling People Power Party.
For President Yoon’s impeachment trial, the National Assembly appointed lawyers Park Hyuk and Lee Gum-gyu as its legal representatives. Park served as vice chairman of the Democratic Party’s Election Management Committee during the 21st general election in 2020 and later headed the party’s Ethics Tribunal in 2021. Last October, the Democratic Party launched a task force to investigate alleged corruption involving first lady Kim Keon-hee, appointing Lee as an advisory member. In December, he proposed the formation of a group to prepare a damages lawsuit against President Yoon for alleged acts of treason. Lee also served on the National Assembly’s legal team during former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial in 2016.
Attorney Lee Won-gu, who served as the anti-corruption secretary in the Moon Jae-in administration, and attorney Seo Sang-beom, former legal affairs secretary, are representing the National Assembly in the impeachment trials of Justice Minister Park Sung-jae and President Yoon, respectively. Attorney Kim Yi-su, who chaired the Government Public Service Ethics Committee under Moon, and attorney Song Doo-hwan, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission, are also part of the legal team for Yoon’s impeachment. Another representative, attorney Lee Kwang-beom, is a founding member of a progressive judicial group and a former special prosecutor who investigated former President Lee Myung-bak’s Naegok-dong land scandal. His law firm, LKB & Partners, has five lawyers working on the case.
