The National Assembly voted to impeach Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min on February 8. This was the first time a cabinet member was impeached in the history of our constitution.

The impeachment was passed with 179 of the 293 ruling and opposition party lawmakers present voting in favor of the impeachment, exceeding the majority (150) of registered lawmakers needed for the impeachment. There were 109 lawmakers who voted against the impeachment and five votes were invalid.

Most of the opposition including the Basic Income Party and the Justice Party, which jointly proposed the impeachment with the Democratic Party of Korea (169)--the majority in the National Assembly--voted for the impeachment, while the ruling People Power Party (115) cast votes against the impeachment. Although it was a secret ballot, few votes appear to have deviated from the party’s position.

Lawmakers passed the impeachment on grounds that Lee Sang-min violated the Constitution, the State Public Officials Act, and the Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety. Lee did not take prior measures to prevent a disaster, and even after he was aware of the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon, he was late to operate a disaster countermeasure headquarters and failed to set up a disaster management headquarters. Lawmakers also pointed out that Lee gave a false statement in the parliamentary inspection and made inappropriate remarks to the victims’ families.

This is the first time in the history of our Constitution that a cabinet member has been impeached. Lawmakers proposed the impeachment of cabinet members on six occasions, once to impeach Chong Jong-sup, former minister of government administration and home affairs, in 2015; three times to impeach Hong Nam-ki, former deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, in 2019-2020; and twice to impeach Choo Mi-ae, former minister of justice, in 2020. But they were discarded before a vote or failed to pass in the National Assembly.

Park Hong-keun, the Democratic Party of Korea floor leader who led the impeachment of Lee said, “The Yoon Suk-yeol government continues to turn a blind eye and evade responsibility, so we heeded the wishes of the people and passed the impeachment according to procedures stipulated in the National Assembly Act.” He further said, “We expect the Constitutional Court to make a wise decision with the view that the government must be responsible for the safety of the nation.”

Lee Jong-cheol, the head of the group representing the families of the Itaewon crowd crush victims, said, “Since the government insists on remaining silent, we are grateful that the National Assembly is at least doing its role now,” and asked the lawmakers to do their utmost to enact a special act for an investigation into the tragic event.

After the vote, the People Power Party condemned the opposition in front of the main chamber claiming that it was the tyranny of the majority since the legal requirements for an impeachment were not met. Park Jeong-ha, the party’s senior spokesperson, released a comment and criticized, “It was a riot in the National Assembly by the Democratic Party, which brandished its almighty power.”

Lee Do-woon, spokesperson for the Office of the President, also argued that the National Assembly passing the impeachment was an act “abandoning the parliamentary system” and said, “It will go down in the history of our parliament as a shameful event.” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said, “As the prime minister, I very much regret that such an unprecedented event has occurred in the history of our parliament at a time when we face many challenges at home and abroad.” He also said, “We will concentrate our efforts to perform the duties of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety unwaveringly led by the vice minister and chief of the Central Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters.”

The Constitutional Court will determine the impeachment of Lee. Kim Do-eup (PPP), chair of the parliamentary Legislation and Judiciary Committee, will serve as the prosecutor for the impeachment.

After the lawmakers passed the impeachment Wednesday, the National Assembly delivered the result to Lee at 5 p.m. Thus, Lee has been suspended from his ministerial duties until the Constitutional Court decides. Lee released a statement and apologized for causing the people concern. He said, “I will faithfully take part in the impeachment hearing.”