Date set for last Park impeachment case

SEOUL: South Korea’s Constitutional Court will hold its final impeachment hearing to rule on the fate of President Park Geunhye at the end of the month, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Ms Park was impeached by parliament in December over a corruption scandal involving her close confidante Choi Soonsil and her presidential powers were suspended pending the court’s ruling.

The court initially planned to wrap up the hearings this week but postponed their decision to Feb 27 after “the president’s attorneys asked for more time”, Yonhap said, citing acting chief justice Lee Jungmi. The final verdict could be out by March 13 at the earliest, the report added.

If the court upholds the impeachment, Ms Park will be removed from her post immediately and a presidential election must be held within 60 days.

The scandal centres on Ms Choi, who is accused of using her close ties with Ms Park to force local firms to “donate” nearly US$70 million (about 2.45 billion baht) to nonprofit foundations which she allegedly used for personal gain.

The probe into the scandal has seen several senior government officials arrested and a handful of South Korea’s most powerful businessmen questioned over their alleged involvement.

Meanwhile, l awyers f or Ms Park accused one of the judges reviewing her impeachment of bias and asked him to excuse himself.

The Constitutional Court rejected the request, drawing objections from the lawyers who have argued that parliament’s vote to impeach Ms Park in December has no legal justification. Ms Park’s lawyers said one of the court’s eight judges, Kang Il-won, had consistently shown bias in his questioning of witnesses and had admitted questionable evidence. “If this judge participates in this case ... it could harm the fairness of the trial, which is the basis of our request to remove him,” a lawyer for Ms Park, Cho Won-ryong, told the hearing.

“According to our analysis, Judge Kang mostly asks questions to the defence’s witnesses,” Kim Pyung-woo, another lawyer for Ms Park said. “And his questions for the defence witnesses always start off with criticism.”

Ms Park has not appeared before the court. It can not order her to appear — she retains presidential immunity while in office — and her lawyers have said she has not decided whether to attend. Ms Park is the daughter of a former military ruler. She has denied wrongdoing, as has Ms Choi.

If the impeachment is upheld, Ms Park would become the first democratically elected leader to be removed from office and a new election would have to be called in 60 days to pick a new leader for a full five-year term.

The court says it would conclude oral arguments on Feb 27. It has not said when it would deliver a verdict but according to past practice, a decision could be expected after about two weeks. For the impeachment to stand, at least six of the eight judges must rule in its favour. The seat for the court’s ninth judge was vacated when its chief retired at the end of January.

In a case linked to the scandal, the chief of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, Samsung Group, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of bribing Ms Park’s friend to gain government favours. Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, who was taken into custody last week, has denied wrongdoing.