The Constitutional Court, which is currently hearing the impeachment trial of President Yoon Seok-yeol, dismissed the president's side's request to disqualify a justice on the 14th. The first formal hearing held that day ended in about four minutes due to the absence of President Yoon, the party involved.
On the afternoon of the 14th, the first hearing for the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol took place at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where the justices sat in the courtroom. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung
At the first hearing of President Yoon's impeachment trial held at 2 p.m. in the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court, Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae stated, "Yesterday, a disqualification request was submitted against one justice, and today, the request was dismissed by a unanimous decision of the seven justices excluding that justice." Following this decision, all eight justices of the full bench, including Justice Jung Kye-seon (with one vacancy), attended the hearing.
Acting Chief Justice Moon also said, "The batch scheduling of hearing dates is based on Article 30, Paragraph 3 of the Constitutional Court Act and Article 21, Paragraph 1 of the Constitutional Court Trial Rules, and the Criminal Procedure Rules were not applied. This is the Constitutional Court, not a criminal court."
Earlier, President Yoon's side filed an objection to the Constitutional Court's batch scheduling of the fifth hearing date, but the court did not accept it.
Meanwhile, the hearing ended in about four minutes due to President Yoon's absence, in accordance with relevant provisions of the Constitutional Court Act. At the next hearing, the trial procedure will proceed even if the party does not attend.
The second hearing is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. on the 16th.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
