The Constitutional Court began its review yesterday of South Korea's first-ever presidential impeachment, starting what could be months of deliberations on whether to unseat the suspended president, Roh Moo-hyun.
The court decided to ask for Roh's testimony at its next meeting on March 30, when the prosecution and defense attorneys will lay out their cases, court spokesman Yang Chul-soo said. Roh does not have to appear in person at the public hearing, but must be represented, Yang said.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly needs at least six of the nine judges to rule in favor of its vote last Friday to impeach Roh. The justices have 180 days to decide.
The justices -- two seated under Roh's government and seven under Roh's predecessor, Kim Dae-jung -- have not commented on the case. Legal experts are divided over the impeachment's constitutionality.
The bench includes three justices selected by the parliament, three by the chief justice and three by former President Kim. Roh was a member of Kim's Cabinet and his Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), before quitting last autumn amid infighting. The MDP was one of the opposition parties that led the impeachment.
Kim Ki-choon, the chief prosecutor in the case, has said the hearing could take several months.
The opposition Grand National Party lawmaker and chairman of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee is leading a team of lawyers arguing that parliament's decision was legal.
Roh has appointed a former adviser on civil affairs, Moon Jae-in, to assemble his defense team.
Late on Wednesday, Moon submitted a 10-page report to the court outlining his team's arguments and calling the case "a historic precedent."
Details of the report were not available.
Parliament voted to impeach Roh for alleged election law violations, corruption scandals and economic incompetence.
The Constitutional Court must now decide if those reasons were sufficient to impeach the president.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS