Seoul: The Constitutional Court: denied Monday that it suggested dropping insurrection from the list of charges in the National Assembly's impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Assembly's legal representatives had requested last Friday to remove the charge that Yoon incited an insurrection when he declared martial law on December 3. They argued that this would help focus proceedings on whether the president violated the Constitution and thus expedite the trial.
The ruling People Power Party (PPP) opposed the removal of insurrection charges, arguing that it would render the impeachment motion ineffective and necessitate rewriting and re-voting on the motion in the Assembly. PPP Representative Joo Jin-woo alleged that the bench suggested the removal to uphold the impeachment.
In response to these claims, court spokesperson Cheon Jae-hyun clarified to reporters that no such suggestion was made by the court. "How the impeachment grounds will be reviewed legally in relation to one another is a decision to be made wholly by the bench," Cheon stated.
In the midst of these developments, a meeting involving all eight current justices took place, marking the first such meeting since the appointment of two additional justices last week. The court's nine-member bench remains one justice short after acting President Choi Sang-mok appointed Jeong Gye-seon and Cho Han-chang, while withholding the appointment of Ma Eun-hyuk, pending a political compromise between rival parties.