Potentially early end to Yoon impeachment trial puts parties in tricky election position
Published: 12 Feb. 2025, 17:58
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- MICHAEL LEE
- [email protected]
![President Yoon Suk Yeol attends the seventh hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 11. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/12/701c538a-2d73-449d-b95b-c4c55974c89c.jpg)
President Yoon Suk Yeol attends the seventh hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 11. [NEWS1]
Controversy is brewing over the possibility that the Constitutional Court could issue a ruling in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial one to two weeks earlier in March compared to initial expectations.
Yoon’s lawyers have urged the court’s justices to take more time to review evidence presented during the trial to resolve what they have characterized as “discrepancies” between different testimonies regarding his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.
However, the court has yet to announce whether it will hear more oral testimonies beyond the eighth hearing of Yoon’s impeachment trial scheduled for Thursday.
Should the court finish hearing oral arguments by Feb. 20, the justices are expected to announce their decision in early March, which Yoon’s side is likely to criticize as a premature conclusion to the trial.
If the court issues an early verdict upholding Yoon’s impeachment, the race to choose his successor would also take place sooner as the election must be held within 60 days.
The Constitutional Court has already declined to hear additional testimonies by impeached Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and acting Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Maj. Gen. Lee Kyung-min.
Both were submitted as witnesses by Yoon’s lawyers.
Even if the court agrees to hear from more witnesses, observers believe that the justices would only schedule one or two more hearings next week.
The court is also expected to hear from Yoon, but not other witnesses, during the trial’s concluding arguments, the date of which is yet to be determined.
The National Assembly’s impeachment investigation committee, which is acting as the prosecution in the trial, has called for a swift ruling by the court to bring an end to the country’s protracted political crisis and leadership vacuum.
The announcement of a verdict in early March would bring the trial to an end approximately 80 days after the National Assembly passed its impeachment motion against Yoon.
That period would be shorter than the length of former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial, which consisted of 17 hearings and lasted 93 days, but longer than that of former President Roh Moo-hyun, who was reinstated after a 63-day trial.
Yoon is the first of the three to attend almost every hearing of his impeachment trial.
By law, impeached officials can only be removed from office if at least six of the justices vote in favor of their dismissal.
The court currently has eight justices.
The timing of the decision in the impeachment trial is being closely watched as it would determine whether the election will take place before or after the final verdict in the election law violation case involving Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who is the frontrunner to replace Yoon, according to polls.
![Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung waves to supporters as he arrives at the third hearing of his appeal against his conviction for violating election law at the Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Feb. 12. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/12/dc9ec4d3-24ac-484c-926e-bea0167fc71c.jpg)
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung waves to supporters as he arrives at the third hearing of his appeal against his conviction for violating election law at the Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Feb. 12. [NEWS1]
If Lee is handed a prison sentence longer than a year or a fine exceeding 1 million won ($760) by the Supreme Court, he would be barred from running in elections for five years.
However, that case remains tied up in the appeals process.
Lee has also called for a constitutional review of the Public Official Election Act, under which he has been charged with making false statements during his last presidential campaign.
The DP leader has argued that Article 250 of the law, which punishes individuals who spread election-related falsehoods with up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won ($20,750), should be invalidated for “restricting freedom of speech and setting unclear standards” for what constitutes a lie on the campaign trail.
The Seoul High Court, which is hearing Lee’s first appeal against the suspended one-year prison sentence he received in November, is expected to issue its ruling in early March.
Lee attended the third hearing of his appeal at the court on Wednesday.
BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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