Page 349 - Publicationa15

The Rule of Law for Democracy 341

When a request for impeachment has merit, the Court may
decide that the accused person be removed from public office.
The decision of impeachment does not excuse the official from

civil or criminal responsibility.
When the Court pronounces a decision ordering dissolution
of a political party, the political party is dissolved and lawmakers
of the party lose their seats in the National Assembly.
For the past 28 years since its foundation in 1988, the Court
has gained the people’s trust by boldly striking down unjust laws
that infringed human rights in many aspects, most of which were
a legacy of the military dictatorship of the past, and by rendering
many decisions ensuring basic rights of the people.
A good example is when the Court in 2013 decided that the
Presidential Emergency Measures were unconstitutional.
These Measures served as a basis for abuse of the presidential
power in the 1970s that allowed the president to arbitrarily restrict
basic rights of the people and impose criminal punishment.

The Court has since also reviewed many laws that limit
freedom and rights of the people or discriminate women without
reasonable grounds.
Specifically, the Court has made rigorous efforts for the
advance of democracy. In 2007, the Court held that a provision in
the Public Elections Act which barred Korean citizens residing in
foreign countries from voting in elections is unconstitutional.
The Court in 1995, 2001, 2007, and 2014 reviewed an issue
of population disparity in electoral districts, and in 2001 ordered
that voters should be allowed to cast two separate ballots for the
election of proportional representatives in the National Assembly
and the election of district assemblyperson respectively.

_17-0315(337-352)16.indd 341 4/27/60 BE 11:58 AM