{"id":2207511,"date":"2024-12-13T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T23:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2207511"},"modified":"2024-12-12T15:40:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T06:40:42","slug":"cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Cho Kuk sentenced as impeachment threat against Yoon enters critical stage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Korea\u2019s Supreme Court on Dec. 12 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yna.co.kr\/view\/AKR20241212085351004?section=society\/all&amp;site=major_news01\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">upheld a two-year prison sentence<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for Cho Kuk, the former justice minister and leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP). The ruling also confirmed the forfeiture of Cho\u2019s lawmaker status. Cho\u2019s conviction stemmed from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/03\/former-justice-ministers-comeback-splits-progressives-along-generational-lines\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">charges<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> including forging documents to secure his children\u2019s university admissions, obstruction of business and violations of anti-corruption laws.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cho, a polarizing figure, briefly served as justice minister under the Moon Jae-in administration before resigning amid public backlash and legal controversies. Following his sentencing in Feb. 2023, he launched the RKP, which rapidly gained traction as an ally of the main opposition Democratic Party. His vacated seat as a proportional representative will automatically pass to the next candidate on the RKP\u2019s list, leaving the opposition bloc\u2019s numbers unchanged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>WHY IT MATTERS<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pro-impeachment bloc now stands at 199 lawmakers, just one vote shy of the 200 needed to pass the motion to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol. This includes 190 opposition lawmakers, two independents, and seven People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers who have declared their support for impeachment. The PPP\u2019s new floor leader, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.yna.co.kr\/view\/AEN20241212006500315\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kwon Seong-dong<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 a close Yoon ally \u2014 faces mounting pressure to prevent further defections. Yoon stated during a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.president.go.kr\/president\/speeches\/tHwPjraV\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">televised address<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Thursday morning that he would not resign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If one more lawmaker shifts to support impeachment, the motion could pass, triggering a constitutional court review and deepening South Korea\u2019s political crisis. Prolonged uncertainty risks legislative paralysis, which may delay economic policies, trade negotiations and responses to regional security challenges. The situation could become even more volatile if impeachment proceedings extend into 2025, coinciding with shifts in U.S. trade and security policies under the Trump administration.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-tags\"><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/domestic-politics\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Domestic Politics<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea\u2019s Supreme Court on Dec. 12 upheld a two-year prison sentence for Cho Kuk, the former justice minister and leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP). The ruling also confirmed the forfeiture of Cho\u2019s lawmaker status. Cho\u2019s conviction stemmed from charges including forging documents to secure his children\u2019s university admissions, obstruction of business and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10407,"featured_media":2207512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-2207511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-briefings","tag-domestic-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cho Kuk sentenced as impeachment threat against Yoon enters critical stage - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cho Kuk sentenced as impeachment threat against Yoon enters critical stage - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korea\u2019s Supreme Court on Dec. 12 upheld a two-year prison sentence for Cho Kuk, the former justice minister and leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP). The ruling also confirmed the forfeiture of Cho\u2019s lawmaker status. Cho\u2019s conviction stemmed from charges including forging documents to secure his children\u2019s university admissions, obstruction of business and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nknewsorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-12T23:00:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-12T06:40:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/eb1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"johnleenknews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@southkoreapro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@southkoreapro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"KOREA PRO\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"johnleenknews\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b9766dba611638edc06a6e0b7078714d\"},\"headline\":\"Cho Kuk sentenced as impeachment threat against Yoon enters critical stage\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-12T23:00:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-12T06:40:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/\"},\"wordCount\":290,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/eb1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Domestic Politics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Briefings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/\",\"name\":\"Cho Kuk sentenced as impeachment threat against Yoon enters critical stage - KOREA PRO\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/eb1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-12T23:00:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-12T06:40:42+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/eb1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/eb1.png\",\"width\":1870,\"height\":1000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/12\/cho-kuk-sentenced-as-impeachment-threat-against-yoon-enters-critical-stage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cho Kuk sentenced as impeachment threat against Yoon enters critical stage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/\",\"name\":\"KOREA PRO\",\"description\":\"Be smart about South Korea. 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