South Korea’s Constitutional Court has begun studying the case to decide whether to remove President Yoon Suk Yeol for his attempt to impose martial law on December 3.
The court will hold its first public hearing on December 27, its spokesman, Lee Jean, said at a press conference, after the court’s six judges met on Saturday to discuss plans for Parliament’s review of the impeachment. , controlled by the opposition.
The court has up to six months to decide whether to remove Yoon or reinstate him in office. The first hearing will be “preparatory” to confirm the main legal issues of the case and the schedule, among other matters, Lee said.
Yoon is not required to attend that hearing, he said. In 2017, it took three months for the court to issue a ruling to strip then-President Park Geun-hye of the presidency following her dismissal for abuse of the powers of her office.
Yoon and several senior officials face possible charges of insurrection, abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights due to the short-lived martial law.
A joint team of investigators from the police, the Defense Ministry and an anti-corruption agency plans to summon Yoon for questioning at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, a police official told Reuters.
Investigators attempted to serve a summons for Yoon to appear at the presidential office and his official residence, but the presidential security service refused to receive it, claiming that he was not fit to do so, Yonhap news reported.
On Sunday, Yoon did not appear in response to a summons for questioning in a separate investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office, Yonhap news reported. Yoon claimed that he was still assembling a legal team for his defense.
The leader of the ruling People Power party, Han Dong-hoon, resigned this Monday, claiming that his position had become untenable after his dramatic decision to support Yoon’s ouster at the weekend.
“Martial law in the advanced nation that is South Korea, in 2024. How angry and disappointed you must all be,” he stated at a press conference.
Han, once Yoon’s closest ally and former Justice Minister, defended his decision to break with the president after he attempted to impose martial law earlier this month.
“Although [la ley marcial] “was made by a president that our party produced, to be misinterpreted as a defender of an illegal martial law that mobilized the military is a betrayal of this great country,” he said, adding that he had been “terrified” by possible bloodshed between citizens. and soldiers if martial law was not lifted.
“I tried every means possible to find a better path for this country other than impeachment, but in the end I couldn’t. It’s all due to my flaws. I’m sorry,” he added.
The resignation marks the final breakdown of the once close alliance between Han and Yoon, who worked together in the Prosecutor’s Office before Yoon’s rise to the presidency.
Their relationship began to show signs of strain earlier this year, when Han broke ranks by suggesting that the presidential couple should apologize over accusations that the first lady had accepted a luxury Dior handbag.
The split came after it was revealed that Han was one of the politicians, including opposition figures, that Yoon had ordered detained during his brief declaration of martial law.
Han later urged ruling party lawmakers to support the president’s ouster, saying Yoon posed “a great danger” to democracy. His stance marked an extraordinary turn for someone who had been Yoon’s justice minister and was long considered his closest political ally and protégé.
The split reflects deeper divisions within South Korea’s conservative movement, with Han representing a younger and ostensibly more reformist faction increasingly at odds with Yoon’s more traditional power base.
On December 3, in an emergency television address to the nation, Yoon announced the imposition of martial law, accusing the opposition of paralyzing the government with “anti-state activities.”
The imposition of martial law – the first of its kind in more than four decades – lasted only six hours, and hundreds of soldiers and police sent by Yoon to the National Assembly withdrew after the presidential decree was annulled. There were no major acts of violence.
Translation of Javier Biosca
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