Court to hand down verdict in Yoon Suk Yeol impeachment on Friday
The Constitutional Court said Tuesday that it would deliver its judgment on President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment at 11 a.m., Friday.
Yoon's impeachment verdict is set to be broadcast live, it said.
Yoon has been suspended from duty since Dec. 14 after his abrupt declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 plunged the nation into political chaos.
The court will decide whether to uphold the National Assembly's impeachment of him or dismiss it.
A verdict to permanently remove Yoon from office requires at least six votes in favor from the court's eight justices. In that case, the country will hold a presidential election on June 3.
If Yoon's impeachment is rejected, he will be reinstated as president.
The top court's judicial bench has been deliberating on the presidential impeachment case since Feb. 26, after holding 11 hearings.
During the trial, the National Assembly argued that Yoon declared martial law to ban all political activities, even though South Korea was not at war or under a comparable national emergency, as required by the Constitution. It also claimed the declaration violated precedural rules, citing a "flawed" Cabinet meeting and Yoon's failure to notify the parliament of his martial law decree without delay.
Additionally, it accused Yoon of ordering the arrest of his political opponents to paralyze the legislature.
Three of the eight presidents South Korea has had since democratization in 1987 have been impeached by the National Assembly. The court overturned the late former liberal president Roh Moo-hyun's case 63 days after the parliament's impeachment in 2004. However, former conservative president Park Geun-hye's case was upheld in 91 days, as she became the first sitting president to be removed from office in 2017.
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