| The Constitutional Court of Korea in Jongno-gu, Seoul (Yonhap) |
The Constitutional Court of Korea, which is tasked with reviewing the impeachment cases of both President Yoon Suk Yeol and acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, said Monday that a majority of its justices view the National Assembly's impeachment of Han as valid.
According to court press officer Lee Jin, the court regards Han's authority and power as acting president as "suspended" following parliament's passage of an impeachment motion against Han on Friday.
"A majority of the justices consider it difficult to see Han’s impeachment as invalid,” she said, contrary to what the ruling People Power Party has argued.
On Friday, the motion to impeach Han garnered 192 votes from the Assembly's 300 lawmakers, but PPP lawmakers requested constitutional adjudication, citing issues with the threshold needed to pass the motion. They also applied for an injunction against the motion taking effect.
For the vote to pass, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik applied the standard of a simple majority -- support from more than half of all lawmakers.
On Monday, the court justices held a meeting to discuss how to proceed with Han’s impeachment trial.
“Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae convened all six justices to review the procedures and methods for the impeachment trial of Han (in addition to Yoon’s case),” Lee said, adding that details will be shared on Tuesday.
While eyes are on how quickly Han’s trial will proceed, the legal community expects that his will be deemed equally as important as that of Yoon, considering that the impeachment action was taken while Han was serving as acting president.
On Dec. 14, the court received Yoon’s impeachment motion and announced on Dec. 16 that it had begun reviewing the case as a “top priority.”
Meanwhile, the court said the National Assembly’s special impeachment committee, which will act as the prosecution in Yoon’s trial, has requested the court to allow them to review the details of police and prosecutorial investigations, such as the requests for warrants to arrest some 10 former and current military officers, as well as copies of investigation records.
According to the Constitutional Court Act, the court permits the review of investigation records on request. Whether such records can be submitted as evidence, however, is decided by the court.
Yoon's legal representatives have not made such a request yet, the court's press officer said.
Lee also added that justices are "speeding up" their discussion on the feasibility of ruling on the cases while having only six justices on the nine-member court.
Media reports suggest that there has been internal opposition among justices who believe the cases cannot be decided while the court has three vacant seats.
With the seats vacant since October, the court has delayed decisions on pending cases while waiting for appointments. However, with the president and the acting president and prime minister both impeached and related constitutional disputes escalating, the court is expected to release a more specific statement regarding the vacancies.
On Thursday, a bill nominating three candidates for the constitutional court — Ma Eun-hyuk, Jung Gye-seon and Cho Han-chang — was passed in a plenary session of the National Assembly.
.jpeg?type=nf190_130)
.jpg?type=nf190_130)
