South Korean President Yoon Sak Yeol was fired each in December in an attempt to impose martial law, but will know on Friday whether he will be officially removed from duties or returned to power, the country's top court said on Tuesday.
The suspense scene was being built in South Korea as the Constitutional Court waited for the fate of Yoon. He has been suspended from office since the National Assembly fired him on December 14th. In South Korea, the Constitutional Court decides whether the officials who were each fired up forever or have been resurrected.
To eliminate Yoon, at least six of the eight justice members of the court will need to vote. Otherwise, he will take office. The court's decision that cannot be appealed is a key moment of political upheaval that Yun unleashed when he declared martial law on December 3rd.
If the court eliminates him, Yoon will become the second president in South Korean history and resign from his position through ammo each. (President Park Gun Hai was the first in 2017.) The country will soon shift gears to new elections. The successor must be selected within 60 days.
If he is revived, the political crisis in South Korea could deepen. Yoon's attempts to impose martial law have angered millions of Koreans. Even if he is resurrected, he resumes his presidential duties with a rather weakening ability.
In a statement, the Constitutional Court said it would convene at 11am on Friday to govern Mr Yoon's case. It said it would allow television stations to broadcast control live.
Yoon was detained on charges of rebellion on January 15th, and was also linked to the imposition of martial law. The suspense surrounding his future escalated after the Seoul Court unexpectedly released him from prison on March 8th.
The court's decision, and future Constitutional Court's decision, will not directly affect criminal charges fighting in another trial that began in February.
The Constitutional Court's decision to reject parliamentary blasts will encourage supporters of Yoon, who held rallies in Seoul in recent weeks, where the blast and the rebellion demanded “fraud” and returned to his job.
However, recent research has shown that it could anger the majority of Koreans who want to get rid of Yoon. Police have stepped up security measures around the courts to protect the violence.
Yun unexpectedly declared martial law on December 3, calling the opposition-controlled parliament a “monster” and a “nest of criminals” that “paralised” his government.
For the first time in more than 40 years, any leader has sought to deploy South Korea, a key US ally under military control. Congress voted for the measure and forced Yoon to cancel the order within hours.
But it caused the country's worst political crisis in decades. The Koreans, who have painful memories of past military control, have taken thousands of people into the city and called for the exile of Yoon.
After drilling a hole along with his bodyguard in the fortified residence in central Seoul, Yoon initially resisted the efforts of criminal investigators to detain him. However, he surrendered on January 15th, becoming the first president in South Korean history, facing criminal charges while still in office.
Prosecutors said Yun committed a rebellion during the short-lived imposition of martial law when he banned all political activities and ordered military commanders to “shoot” or “shoot if necessary” and “drug” MPs.
They said that Yoon had taken the parliament and sent troops to detain political leaders. The nation saw lawmakers raid Congress with live streaming scenes of special forces armed with assault rifles as they gathered there voting against martial law.
When Yoon attended a Constitutional Court hearing in recent weeks, he said he vehemently refused the charges of the rebellion and hoped to regain his job. He said he never intended to neutralize Congress or would not issue an order to arrest political leaders. The forces were sent to Congress to “maintain order,” he said.
In a final discussion in the court on February 25th, Yoon said he declared martial law in a “desperate” struggle against the opposition, but he said that he has been constantly undermining the government with the majority power in Congress.
“Who can say that our country is not a national emergency?” he said he declared a national emergency against immigration and cited President Trump's decision to send troops to the border with Mexico.
Yoon said South Korea attacked spies from North Korea and China.
The lawyer who argued for his expulsion on behalf of the National Assembly said Yoon's claim was false. One of the lawyers, Song Du Hawang, said that getting him back to the office is like “allowing the madman to drive the car again.”
Yoon's former defense minister, several military generals and police chiefs, have also been in court over separate criminal charges that helped Yoon commit the rebellion.
