Ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday was facing his final impeachment hearing before judges decide whether to formally remove him from office over his disastrous martial law declaration.
Yoon’s short-lived suspension of civilian rule plunged democratic South Korea into political turmoil, and he was removed from office by parliament in December last year.
After weeks of fraught impeachment hearings at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, yesterday’s proceedings began at 2pm, but Yoon was not present, a journalist in the courtroom said.
Photo: AFP
In opening remarks, Yoon’s defense team cited a US Supreme Court ruling last year, [US President] Donald Trump v the United States, arguing that the ousted president cannot be punished for “exercising his core constitutional powers.”
That ruling “should be considered in the context of impeachment proceedings,” Yoon’s lawyer Lee Dong-chan said.
In response, prosecutor Lee Gum-gyu spoke emotively about his son, an active duty soldier he said would have been forced to participate in Yoon’s martial law.
“As a citizen and a father, I feel a sense of rage and betrayal toward Yoon, who tried to turn my son into a martial law soldier,” he told the court.
Yesterday’s session was Yoon’s last before the eight judges go behind closed doors to decide his fate.
A number of lawmakers from his ruling People Power Party were in attendance.
Yoon was expected to deliver a closing argument in his defense, with representatives of parliament given time to present the case for his removal.
Outside the court, pro-Yoon protesters chanted “Drop the impeachment,” and some held signs denouncing the Chinese Communist Party and North Korea — which they have accused, without evidence, of interfering in South Korean elections to the benefit of the opposition.
Others held signs saying “Stop the Steal,” echoing Trump’s false claims of voter fraud when he lost the 2020 election to former US president Joe Biden.
A verdict is widely expected in the middle of next month.
Previously impeached South Korean presidents Park Geun-hye and Roh Moo-hyun had to wait 11 and 14 days respectively to learn about their fates.
If Yoon is removed from office, the nation must hold a fresh presidential election within 60 days.
The 64-year-old has also been behind bars since he was arrested last month on charges of insurrection, for which he could be sentenced to life in prison or even face the death penalty. His trial began last week.
Much of the impeachment trial has centered on whether Yoon violated the constitution by declaring martial law, which is reserved for national emergencies or times of war.
The opposition has accused the suspended president of taking the extraordinary measure without proper justification.
Yoon’s lawyer Kim Hong-il last week said that “the declaration of martial law was not intended to paralyze the state.”
Instead, he said, it was meant to “alert the public to the national crisis caused by the legislative dictatorship of the dominant opposition party.”
Yoon’s lawyers have also argued that his martial law declaration was necessary to investigate unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud in last year’s parliamentary poll.
A survey by polling company Realmeter released on Monday said that 52 percent of respondents support Yoon’s formal removal from office, but a Gallup poll, released last week, showed 60 percent in favor and 34 percent against his impeachment.
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