Constitutional Court: "Prioritize Yoon Impeachment Trial... Urge Swift Completion of Constitutional Court"

The Constitutional Court reaffirmed on the 31st its policy to prioritize the impeachment trial case against President Yoon Seok-yeol. It also urged the prompt completion of the Constitutional Court's '9-member system' through the appointment of the three vacant justices.

Lee Jin, Public Relations Officer of the Constitutional Court. Yonhap News Agency

Lee Jin, the Constitutional Court spokesperson, held a briefing in the afternoon and announced that this matter was discussed at the justices' meeting. Earlier, Han Deok-soo, the Acting President and Prime Minister, decided to withhold the appointment of the three newly elected Constitutional Court justices selected by the National Assembly, which led to the impeachment, and Choi Sang-mok, the Acting Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, has not provided a clear stance on this issue. As the deliberation prolonged, debates intensified within and outside the legal community over the unconstitutionality of the Acting President's refusal to appoint Constitutional Court justices, prompting the Constitutional Court itself to call for the appointment of justices to complete the '9-member full body.'

However, when asked whether it is difficult to deliver a ruling on the impeachment trial under the current '6-member Constitutional Court justice system,' the Court drew a line. A Constitutional Court official said, "The possibility of ruling with a 6-member system is still under discussion by the bench, but an unusually large number of urgent impeachment cases have been filed," adding, "Except for the Acting Chief Justice, there are only five justices to select the presiding justice, and each presiding justice is handling 1 to 4 impeachment trial cases."

He continued, "The Constitutional Court is doing its best by mobilizing all available personnel, but it is true that the bench is incomplete, which is burdensome," emphasizing again, "The supplementation of three justices is urgently needed."

The spokesperson also stated, "The impeachment trial case against Prime Minister Han Deok-soo has been referred to the preparatory hearing procedure, and Justices Kim Hyung-doo and Kim Bok-hyung have been designated as ad hoc justices." He added that the jurisdictional dispute trial related to the impeachment resolution against Prime Minister Han was assigned to the same presiding justice. The presiding justice was randomly assigned excluding Justice Jung Hyung-sik, who is presiding over the presidential impeachment trial case, but the identity of the presiding justice was not disclosed in accordance with the existing confidentiality principle.

Meanwhile, Yoon Gap-geun, the lawyer representing President Yoon, announced regarding the arrest warrant issued against the President, "We plan to file a jurisdictional dispute trial and a provisional injunction to suspend the effect of the arrest warrant with the Constitutional Court." When asked about the order of hearing for the arrest warrant case, a Constitutional Court official said, "Since the case has not been filed yet, it is difficult to ascertain specific details," but added, "The order of hearing will be decided by the bench," providing a principled response.

Regarding whether the arrest warrant requested by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials is subject to a jurisdictional dispute trial, the official said, "This is a matter related to legal interpretation and will be judged by the bench."

With the second preparatory hearing date for President Yoon's impeachment trial case scheduled for the 3rd of next month, the Constitutional Court stated that no additional documents had been separately submitted by the respondent side as of the morning of that day.