As the Constitutional Court's deliberation on the conclusion of President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment trial prolongs, the ruling People Power Party analyzed on the 18th that a dismissal or rejection is expected. This is due to the lack of consensus among the six justices, the quorum for the impeachment trial, leading to delays in the judgment.
You Sang-beom, a member of the National Assembly and the ruling party's representative on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, noted at a press conference on the morning of the same day, "If at least six judges had reached a consensus, a decision on the impeachment trial could be made immediately. If the decision is delayed, it sufficiently indicates that there has not been a consensus among the six judges," and added, "It seems we have no choice but to conclude with a dismissal or rejection."
He also stated, "During the impeachment trial of former President Park Geun-hye, there weren't so many baseless speculations while the deliberation process was underway. The fact that it has exceeded the usual deliberation period by more than a week indicates that the positions are sharply divided and conflicting during the deliberation process."
The Constitutional Court is continuing the longest deliberation on the conclusion of President Yoon's impeachment trial. About three weeks have passed since the conclusion of the arguments on the 25th of last month, but no date for the judgment has been announced. Though there are expectations that a ruling will be made later this week, some speculate that it may be postponed by another week.
The pressure from the Democratic Party to appoint Ma Eun-hyuk as a Constitutional Court justice is also interpreted as reflecting expectations of a dismissal or rejection. You stated, "The Democratic Party's urgent and desperate pressure on the appointment of candidate Ma reveals that the decision at the Constitutional Court is not proceeding in line with their wishes," adding, "If we reflect on the Democratic Party's behavior of intimidating the head of the executive branch regarding candidate Ma, it seems there are difficulties in reaching a consensus during the deliberation process."
The Democratic Party issued an ultimatum to Acting President and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok to appoint candidate Ma by the end of the day. Currently, the eight Constitutional Court justices are classified into three progressives (Moon Hyung-bae, Lee Mi-sun, Jeong Gye-seon), three moderates (Jeong Jeong-mi, Kim Hyung-doo, Kim Bok-hyung), and two conservatives (Jeong Hyeong-sik, Jo Han-chang). The fact that a consensus among the six justices, which is the quorum for the impeachment trial, has not been reached indicates that the Democratic Party is strongly urging the appointment of the progressive candidate Ma.
Some members of the People Power Party are recently emphasizing procedural flaws and calling for a 'dismissal of the impeachment,' which is also analyzed as a strategy to induce the three moderate justices to dismiss.
A dismissal carries the burden of having to issue a loss verdict on the impeachment trial request tied to the 'martial law situation.' In contrast, a rejection means that the impeachment motion from the National Assembly does not meet the procedural requirements, indicating that the trial itself does not stand. Even considering that the opposition may attempt to push the impeachment motion again, there is a judgment that the ruling could be delayed as much as possible. A People Power Party official predicted, "The fact that a verdict cannot be reached means that six votes have not gathered, and since the opposition has no reason to change their position, if it solidifies to a 5 to 3 split, there may be people who will not side with the proponents."