The flag of the Constitutional Court is seen outside the court building in Seoul, March 12. Yonhap

Chair of the Board of Audit and Inspection Choe Jae-hae / Yonhap

The Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected a motion impeaching the chief state auditor over his alleged poor review of suspected irregularities surrounding the 2022 relocation of the presidential office and residence.

The court dismissed the motion in a unanimous 8-0 vote, immediately returning Choe Jae-hae, chair of the Board of Audit and Inspection, to his duties.

At the same time, the court unanimously rejected impeachment motions against three top prosecutors — Lee Chang-soo, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office; Cho Sang-won, deputy chief prosecutor at the same office; and Choi Jae-hun, head of the office's second anti-corruption investigation division.

By law, the consent of at least six justices is required to uphold an impeachment.

"(The BAI) conducted an audit of whether legally set procedures were followed in the decision-making process behind the relocation of the presidential office and residence, and there are no circumstances suggesting it was a poor audit," the court said.

The court also rejected allegations in the impeachment motion that Choe performed an audit targeting Jeon Hyun-heui, former chair of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, to pressure her to resign.

Choe and the three prosecutors were impeached by the opposition-controlled National Assembly in December.

The prosecutors were accused of failing to indict first lady Kim Keon Hee following an investigation into her alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.

They were also accused of making false claims regarding the investigation during press briefings.

But the court ruled it was not an abuse of authority to question the first lady at a location outside of the prosecution's office and that no false claims were made.

The impeachment rulings for the four men were considered a test of how the Constitutional Court views the charges in a separate impeachment trial against President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yoon was impeached over his failed bid to impose martial law in December, which he justified by citing a "paralysis" of state affairs caused by the opposition party's relentless impeachments of senior officials, among other reasons. (Yonhap)