Impeaching the Impeachment

Park Geun-hye was truly a political phenomenon. She was elected democratically, twice chosen as the leader of her party, and served in the South Korean legislature for over fourteen years. Her countrymen dubbed her the “Queen of Elections” for her successful leadership in winning her own elections and steering her party to great electoral victories. Yet in 2016–2017, she was impeached and subsequently removed from office. How did it happen? How could it have happened? How, why, and with what justification was President Park, South Korea’s first female president, impeached and removed from office?

In Impeaching the Impeachment, Peter Pyungwoo Kim sets the record straight and provides a unique insider’s perspective on the legal, procedural, and political issues involved in the lead-up to South Korea’s impeachment and the removal from office of its first female president. Few can better answer these questions and explain the how the impeachment came about than Kim, a well-known and respected Korean attorney who served as one of the main defense lawyers on Park’s legal team during her impeachment trial before South Korea’s Constitutional Court.

In this first book specifically devoted to the subject in English, Kim traces the historic case from the legislature’s vote to impeach Park to the beginning of the trial in which he defended her. It is a cautionary tale, a plea for justice and for the rule of law, and a fascinating description of an unfolding political crisis that is of relevance to citizens of other democratic nations.