There is a prospect that the conclusion of the impeachment trial against President Yoon Suk-yeol will come out in the middle to late part of this week.
According to the legal community on the 16th, the Constitutional Court will continue deliberations until tomorrow, the 17th, and will hold impeachment trial arguments against Minister Park Sung-jae the following day on the 18th. Since it is possible to conclude deliberations on the 19th and designate the ruling date, the impeachment ruling date is expected to be the 20th to the 21st.
Currently, the ruling on the impeachment of President Yoon is being reviewed for the longest period in history. This is due to the backlash from President Yoon's camp regarding the National Assembly's withdrawal of the charge of insurrection and the debate over the inability to use evidence from the emergency martial law officials' testimony. It is interpreted that they are contemplating how to include specific explanations regarding these controversies in the ruling document.
Initially, the impeachment ruling date was predicted to be the 14th of last week. Looking at previous cases of presidential impeachment trials, rulings were made within two weeks after the arguments concluded. However, the Constitutional Court only held deliberations on the 14th and discussed the impeachment of President Yoon.
Former President Roh Moo-hyun's ruling came 63 days after the impeachment motion, while former President Park Geun-hye took 91 days. The deliberation of President Yoon's impeachment trial has already exceeded the longest period.
There is also an analysis that it is taking time to encourage unanimity in order to minimize social chaos. An impeachment motion can be sustained with the support of more than six judges, but there are concerns that if opinions are divided, chaos caused by public opinion for and against impeachment will be exacerbated.
On the 11th, the Constitutional Court announced, 'The ruling dates for important cases will be announced to the entire press corps after the party's date notification and receipt confirmation have been completed, considering the procedural guarantees for the parties and media equity.'
Jeong Cheong-rae, the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chairman and an impeachment commissioner for the President, also noted through his social media (SNS) that 'fake news is rampant regarding the ruling date of the Constitutional Court,' and said, 'I have not received any contact from the Constitutional Court yet. If I receive the ruling date, I will immediately make it public.'