At least six of the court’s eight justices need to uphold Yoon’s impeachment to remove him from office.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court has announced that it will issue its ruling on Friday regarding whether to permanently remove impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol from office.
The court stated on Tuesday that it will deliver its ruling on Yoon, who was impeached by legislators after briefly declaring martial law late last year, at 11 a.m. (02:00 GMT), and the verdict will be broadcast live.
At least six of the court’s eight justices must uphold Yoon’s impeachment to remove him from office.
If the court affirms Yoon’s impeachment, a presidential election will be held within 60 days.
Otherwise, Yoon, who has been suspended from his presidential duties since mid-December, will be immediately reinstated.
Yoon, a former top prosecutor, asserted that he issued his short-lived martial law decree to sound the alarm about what he claimed was the opposition Democratic Party’s obstructionism and sympathetic stance toward North Korea.
He lifted martial law within six hours after the National Assembly voted unanimously to overturn the decree.
While the declaration was brief and did not result in violence, it cast a shadow over South Korea’s reputation as a vibrant, modern democracy and evoked painful memories of the country’s authoritarian past.
Yoon, who was elected in 2022 without prior political experience, is separately facing criminal charges of insurrection related to the decree.
Although several of South Korea’s democratic-era leaders have been jailed for crimes after their terms ended, Yoon is the first president to be prosecuted while still in office.
In a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, 60% of respondents supported Yoon’s removal.
Opinion polls show Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung as the overwhelming favorite in a snap election.
On Wednesday, an appeals court overturned Lee’s 2024 conviction for an election law violation that would have disqualified him from running in the next presidential election.
Last week, the Constitutional Court separately overturned the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, reinstating him as acting president while it considers the case against Yoon.
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