of violation, constitutes a grave violation of the Constitution or statutes. Also, an act prior to inauguration as President may constitute a ground for impeachment. (2) The authority to determine whether an act of the President in violation of the Constitution or statutes in the performance of his or her official duties is of such gravity to justify the removal from the office lies in the National Assembly directly constituted by the national constituents. The scope of the subject matter in the impeachment adjudication proceeding at the Constitutional Court is limited to the question of the constitutionality and legality of the impeachment procedures and to the question of whether or not the specific violations that allegedly constitute the grounds for impeachment in fact exist. (3) The respondent, both prior to and following the inauguration as President, continuously and repeatedly made remarks that cast a doubt on his qualification as President and his will to preserve the basic order of free democracy and instigated the disintegration of the national opinions. Also, the respondent impeded the political neutrality and independence of the public prosecutors' office by intervening into or pressuring the investigation process. The respondent continuously performed an illegal election campaign for a particular political party, upon which the constitutional institution of the National Election Commission determined, as unprecedented in the constitutional history for an incumbent president, that the respondent was in violation of the Public Officials Election Act, and the decision and the accompanying warning were announced to the respondent on March 3, 2004. Notwithstanding, ignoring such warning, the respondent has taken an anti-constitutional position directly denying the rule of law by declaring that he would also publicly support a particular political party in the future irrespective of the election law. Also, the respondent violated various statutes such as Article 30 of the Political Funds Act (punishing the act of receiving illegal political funds), Articles 123 (abuse of office) and 129 (bribery) of the Criminal Code, in getting directly and indirectly involved with numerous incidents of receiving illegal funds and embezzlement by his close associates prior to and following his winning the presidential election. The respondent violated the Constitution and statutes such as Article 69 of the Constitution (obligation to abide by the Constitution), in suggesting, concerning certain corruption matters involving his close associates, a national referendum whether he should remain in office, which is not permitted under the Constitution, and, concerning illegal funds for the presidential election, in publicly declaring that he would retire from politics had such illegal funds been in excess of certain amount and then ignoring such promise. - 157 -