Constitutional Court to Announce Today Its Refusal to Accept Yoon's Impeachment Trial Documents... Uncertainty Over Appearance at PCOC on 25th

The Constitutional Court, which is currently reviewing the impeachment trial request against President Yoon Suk-yeol, will announce its official position on the delivery of impeachment trial documents that have not been delivered to President Yoon on the 23rd.

The side of President Yoon, who was notified by the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (Gongsoocheo) on the 25th to appear as a suspect on charges of insurrection, had not communicated their position regarding attendance to Gongsoocheo as of the morning of that day.

On the 17th, Lee Jin, the spokesperson of the Constitutional Court, is briefing on the impeachment trial petition case against President Yoon Seok-yeol. Photo by Yonhap News.

The Constitutional Court plans to announce its stance related to the deemed delivery of impeachment trial documents during a regular briefing by Lee Jin, the Constitutional Court spokesperson, at 2 p.m. that day.

Since the 16th, the Constitutional Court has sent documents such as the impeachment trial acceptance notice, summons, and preparation orders to President Yoon via mail and in person, but the mail sent to the official residence was refused by the Security Office, and the mail sent to the Presidential Office was returned due to no recipient.

As the Constitutional Court faces difficulties in delivering the impeachment trial documents, there are prospects that the first preparatory hearing scheduled for the 27th may be postponed.

Previously, the late former President Roh Moo-hyun submitted a power of attorney and opinion statement to the Constitutional Court five days after the impeachment motion was passed, and in the case of former President Park Geun-hye, delivery was made through the Blue House Presidential Secretariat about an hour after the motion was passed, with the power of attorney and response submitted a week later.

If the delivery of impeachment trial-related documents is delayed, deadlines for submitting response documents will be postponed, inevitably disrupting the procedural progress, so the Constitutional Court is expected to utilize the deemed delivery system according to the law.

Legally, there are types of delivery such as dispatch delivery, which is deemed delivered at the time the mail is sent; detention and supplementary delivery, where documents are left or handed to staff; and public notice delivery, which takes effect two weeks after posting on bulletin boards, etc.

President Yoon, who received the first notice from Gongsoocheo on the 16th to appear on the 18th and did not comply, also did not express any position by the morning of the 23rd regarding the second notice to appear on the 25th.

Normally, if a suspect fails to comply with two summons, the investigative agency can request an arrest warrant, but since the suspect is the sitting president, if President Yoon’s side applies for a postponement of attendance citing the formation of a defense team, Gongsoocheo is more likely to issue a third summons rather than immediately requesting an arrest warrant.

Meanwhile, on the morning of the same day, the National Assembly’s Personnel Hearing Special Committee held a personnel hearing for two Constitutional Court justice candidates, Jeong Gye-seon and Ma Eun-hyeok, solely by the opposition party. The ruling party holds the position that Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo should not appoint Constitutional Court justices, and has stated that if the opposition forcibly passes the consent bill for the appointment of Constitutional Court justices, they will file a jurisdictional dispute trial with the Constitutional Court.