▶ Major Issues in the Impeachment of President Park Geun-hye
· Legal Violations
- Forced donations to fund the MI-R Foundation and the K-Sports Foundation: Charges of bribery, misfeasance, and coercion according to the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Etc. of Specific Crimes
- K-Sports Foundation received 7 billion won from Lotte Group: Charges of bribery, misfeasance, and coercion according to the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Etc. of Specific Crimes
- Pressured Hyundai Motor Group for a supply contract: Charges of bribery, misfeasance and coercion according to the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Etc. of Specific Crimes
- Pressured Hyundai Motor Group for an advertising contract: Misfeasance and coercion
- Pressured POSCO Group to support The Blue K: Misfeasance and coercion
- Pressured KT for an advertising contract: Misfeasance and coercion
- Pressured a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization to support The Blue K: Misfeasance and coercion
- Leaked documents: Leaked confidential official information

· Constitutional Violations
- Intervention in state affairs by Choi Soon-sil, a secret heavyweight: Violation of constitutional articles concerning the sovereignty of the people and representative democracy
- Intervention in presidential appointments by Choi Soon-sil: Violation of constitutional articles on the career civil service system
- Forced donations for the MI-R Foundation and K-Sports Foundation: Violation of constitutional articles guaranteeing property rights and articles on the market economy
- Suppressing the press: Violation of constitutional articles on the freedom of the press
- Responsibility in the Sewol accident: Violation of constitutional articles guaranteeing the right to life

The three opposition parties—the Minjoo Party of Korea, the People's Party, and the Justice Party—motioned an impeachment bill on December 3, and the various irregularities conducted by President Park Geun-hye while in office densely filled forty pages of this bill, which aimed to impeach President Park. The bill claimed that the criminal activities and constitutional violations of President Park disclosed in the prosecutors' investigation were too serious to allow Park to carry on her duties as president.

The impeachment bill listed the president's irregularities in two categories: violations of the Constitution and violations of other laws. The three opposition parties argued that the president violated thirteen constitutional articles and principles including the sovereignty of the people, representative democracy, the career civil service system, the market economy, and the guarantee of the right to life.

■ Thirteen Violations of Constitutional Articles and Principles
According to the impeachment bill, President Park leaked a significant amount of major official documents, categorized as state secrets, to a "secret heavyweight," Choi Soon-sil, and Choi used her influence to intervene in state policies and the appointment of senior public officials. A typical example is the appointments of former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jong-deok, former Vice Minister Kim Chong, and Song Sung-gak, former president of the Korea Creative Content Agency.

Meanwhile, Choi had public officials who interfered with her interests, such as Noh Gang-taek, a former director in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism demoted to a less important post. Choi filled the government office with her people in this manner, freely sought after her personal interests, and intervened in state affairs. The three opposition parties pointed out that this was all possible, because President Park was involved and gave relevant instructions.

In addition, President Park pressured large companies to cough up billions to tens of billions of won for the MI-R Foundation and the K-Sports Foundation, initiatives of Choi. The president also pressured businesses to provide special favors to companies and organizations connected with Choi. State power and policies ended up as tools to seek private interests and the rule of law was replaced with the rule of the person, Choi.

President Park put a gag on the press, which criticized such abuse of state power. She exerted her influence on Segye Ilbo, which reported allegations on Chung Yoon-hoi's intervention in state affairs, to dismiss the president. In addition to the violations of the Constitution and other legislation, the president disabled the press, a watchdog of such activities, keeping society from performing the minimum self-correcting function.

At the same time, the president neglected her obligation to protect the lives of the people. There is no concrete evidence that can account for what role the president specifically played to rescue the victims of the Sewol for seven hours on the day the ferry sank. The three opposition parties pointed out that, "Failing to take active measures to protect the lives and safety of the people is a dereliction of duty."

■ Cited Criminal Activities
The impeachment bill also cited several criminal charges against President Park, such as bribery, misfeasance and coercion. President Park forced owners of chaebol groups to cough up tens of billions of won for the MI-R Foundation and the K-Sports Foundation, and in this process listened to complaints from the chaebol groups such as, "Large investments and long-term planning is difficult due to the absence of the group's owner" (SK, CJ), "The hedge fund management firm Elliott is strongly opposing the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries" (Samsung), and "The business environment is uncertain due to labor issues" (Hyundai Motor Company). Afterwards, a considerable part of these complaints were resolved. The owners of SK and CJ were pardoned and Samsung was able to merge Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries as they had wanted amidst controversy over special favors from the National Pension Service.

The three opposition parties recognized the connection between the president's tasks and a number of issues concerning the chaebol groups and pointed out that President Park was in a position where she actually oversaw the two foundations. In other words, they saw the money that the chaebol groups gave to the two foundations as bribes. Even if the president's dominance of the two foundations are not recognized, they claimed that President Park is still responsible for the alleged bribery of a third party.

The three opposition parties also applied the same legal reasoning to the fact that Lotte Group, which was undergoing a prosecutors' investigation, had given K-Sports Foundation 7 billion won and received the money back shortly before a search and seizure of the group. President Park ordered Hyundai Motor Company to receive one billion won worth of absorbents for motors supplied by KD Corporation, a company owned by Choi's acquaintance. In exchange, Choi received 500 million won worth of money and goods from the company's CEO. The three opposition parties judged that this also fell into the category of "bribery of a third party" from President Park's perspective.