National Assembly and Yoon's Side Sacrifice Weekend, Focus All Efforts on Final Arguments and Statements on the 25th

Constitutional Court to Conclude 11th Impeachment Hearing for President Yoon
Two Hours Each for National Assembly and Yoon's Side
Unlimited Time for Final Statements by the Parties

Two days before the conclusion of the impeachment trial arguments against President Yoon Suk-yeol, both the National Assembly side and President Yoon's side are giving up their weekend to prepare for the final statements and other proceedings.

On the afternoon of the 20th, the 10th impeachment trial of President Yoon Seok-yeol was held in the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and the trial is beginning.
February 20, 2025. Photo by Joint Press Corps

According to the legal community on the 23rd, the Constitutional Court plans to hold the 11th trial session from 2 p.m. on the 25th to hear the final arguments from both sides and the parties' statements. The Court will grant each side two hours for their final arguments and has announced that there will be no time limit for the final statements by the prosecution committee chairman, Jeong Cheong-rae, Chairman of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and President Yoon. President Yoon is expected to present his views on various issues, including his perspective on the martial law situation, during his final statement.

Both sides plan to continue their respective arguments on key issues such as the unconstitutionality and illegality of the emergency martial law declaration, obstruction of National Assembly activities, and the deployment of forces from the Central Election Commission until the last argument. The National Assembly side will summarize and present their claim that the December 3 emergency martial law did not meet the declaration requirements and that the deployment of forces to the National Assembly and the Election Commission was an attempt to seize electoral institutions, thus warranting impeachment.

The National Assembly's legal team reportedly held a meeting the previous day to organize their arguments based on the evidence submitted to the Constitutional Court and the witness examinations conducted so far, and to discuss who will present the statements.

President Yoon's side plans to focus on the point that the martial law declaration was a warning measure in a national emergency situation equivalent to the opposition party's coordinated impeachment and unilateral budget cuts. They are expected to argue that since nothing actually happened, the case should be dismissed. President Yoon's legal team visited the Seoul Detention Center again on the day following their previous visit to meet with the President.

After the conclusion of the arguments, the Constitutional Court will enter the phase of deliberations among the justices to gather opinions on whether to impeach. During the impeachment trial of former President Park Geun-hye, deliberations were held daily starting the day after the final arguments.

The verdict will be decided through a voting procedure called a judgment during the deliberations. Once the judgment is made, the presiding justice drafts the decision document based on the majority opinion, and if there are dissenting views on the order or reasoning, minority opinions are submitted and reflected.

It is expected to take about two weeks from the conclusion of the arguments to the verdict, similar to the cases of former Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye.

Meanwhile, on the 24th, the Constitutional Court will hold the first preparatory hearing for the impeachment trial of Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae. Later at 4 p.m., the second trial session for the impeachment of Prosecutor General Lee Chang-soo and others will be held, during which the parties will be questioned and the arguments will be concluded.