Court to hold 1st impeachment trial of chief auditor Feb. 12

Choe Jae-hae, chief of the Board of Audit and Inspection, leaves his office in central Seoul, in this file photo taken Dec. 5, 2024, after the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against him. Yonhap

The Constitutional Court will hold the first hearing of an impeachment trial for the chief state auditor on Feb. 12, according to the court Wednesday.

On Dec. 5, the opposition-controlled National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against the Board of Audit and Inspection Chair Choe Jae-hae, suspending his duties and leaving the decision over his fate to the court.

Choe is accused by the opposition of conducting a poor review of alleged irregularities surrounding the 2022 relocation of the presidential office, which took place in line with a campaign pledge by President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The court has held three pretrial hearings to decide the list of witnesses and lay out key issues to deliberate on during the upcoming hearings.

Choe is one of several government officials, including prosecutors, who have been impeached by the opposition-controlled parliament since Yoon took office in May 2022. It marked the first impeachment of a chief state auditor. (Yonhap)