Yoon's Impeachment Verdict Delayed Again This Week… Likely to Conclude Early Next Month

Constitutional Court Did Not Notify Verdict Date Yesterday

27th is Scheduled for Regular Verdicts, Tight Schedule

Pressure from Opposition Likely to Intensify with Lee's Acquittal

The impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol, which has been considered a variable that could shake the political landscape depending on how it is scheduled with the second trial of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, for violating the Public Official Election Act, is likely to conclude after this month.

The Constitutional Court did not designate a verdict date for President Yoon's impeachment trial on the 26th. To deliver a verdict this week, notification should have been made by today, two days before Friday (28th). The court handled the impeachment case of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on the 24th, and with regular verdicts scheduled for the 27th, it was a tight schedule to set another important case this week. The court has traditionally delivered multiple constitutional judgments (unconstitutionality trials, competence disputes, constitutional complaints, etc.) on the last Thursday of each month, and this week, it also announced the handling of 40 constitutional complaints. This is the last regular verdict before the retirement of Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae and Justice Lee Mi-seon.

With the court's acquittal of Lee on this day, the opposition's pressure for the swift removal of President Yoon is expected to intensify.

The Constitutional Court has been continuing internal deliberations (judges' meetings) for 30 days since concluding 11 hearings on President Yoon's case on the 25th of last month. It has been 103 days since the case was filed on December 14 last year, marking the longest deliberation period for a presidential impeachment case. Among the high-ranking officials of the Yoon administration referred to impeachment trials related to the 12·3 Martial Law, only Prime Minister Han's case has been concluded, while the cases of President Yoon, Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, and Police Chief Cho Ji-ho are still under deliberation. The case of Minister Park, which concluded its first hearing on the 18th, could be decided before President Yoon's case. The hearing date for Chief Cho's case has not yet been set.

Professor Kim Hae-won of Pusan National University School of Law pointed out, "The Constitutional Court has arbitrarily handled impeachment cases without basing them on the date of filing or the date of conclusion of hearings, raising suspicions of political judgment rather than legal reasoning," and emphasized, "To uphold the values our Constitution aspires to, the court should focus all resources on the presidential case."

Reporter Jang Seo-woo suwu@hankyung.com