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.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS