By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

Forty-three of 100 public employees of the presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths on Friday issued a statement denouncing the National Assembly’s impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.

The strongly worded statement is likely to add fuel to the street protests against the impeachment. The commission is a symbol of conscience and truth; it was established three years ago under the president to investigate suspicious deaths that took place under past authoritarian regimes.

``We are ready to accept punishment and disadvantages this effort may bring us,’’ the officials said in a statement posted on the commission’s Web site (www.truthfinder.go.kr). ``The impeachment of President Roh is a coup plotted by corrupt and conservative politicians in the face of a public judgment in the April 15 elections. This is a challenge for democracy and the rule of the people.’’

The statement, signed by five commissioners and 38 other employees who attained their positions under former president Kim Dae-jung’s administration, described the present time as a national crisis. The members said they couldn’t sit idle before the crisis and that they will make efforts to put the country on the right track. Not all members started their careers as public employees. Some were hired by the government while serving as lawyers, doctors and professors.

The commission members’ action touched off a controversy over their political neutrality and independence. The government may review the case to determine how the employees violated the ethics code by denouncing the impeachment.

The commission’s move comes as pro-impeachment and anti-impeachment forces and many interests groups are waging campaigns over the impeachment, which was passed last Friday in a vote by the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

The declaration is certain to draw backlash from opposition parties, which are locked in an internal feud due in large part to plummeting public approval in the face of the anti-impeachment protests.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr