Court reaffirms final hearing for impeachment on Feb. 27

The Constitutional Court reaffirmed Friday that it will hold its final hearing for the impeachment trial of President Park Geun-hye on Feb. 27 regardless of plans to appoint a new chief justice.

The statement comes after Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae announced the highest court would appoint a new chief justice for the Constitutional Court as early as next week. The court will only have seven justices out of the nine-member bench after acting Chief Justice Lee Jung-mi retires on March 13.

Asked about the possibility of the final hearing being delayed, a court official said at a press briefing, “There will be no change in the schedule. The final hearing will be held on Feb. 27 as we’ve announced earlier.”

It is seen as an ultimatum to the President’s lawyers who have asked the court to put off the final hearing.

Security beefed up

Meanwhile, tensions are mounting ahead of a court decision on the fate of President Park, who was impeached by the National Assembly in December.

Over security concerns, private security guards and police officers have been deployed to protect Moon Jae-in, the most popular candidate for the forthcoming presidential election, as well as the Constitutional Court’s eight justices.

When Moon visited Yeongcheon Market in western Seoul, Thursday, he was accompanied by four private security guards.

Kim Kyoung-soo, spokesman for the unofficial Moon presidential campaign, said the guards were hired after he confirmed specific threats against Moon from multiple sources.

This came a couple of days after a “wanted ad” for assassins to target Moon started to circulate in online far-right communities.

The ad says, “We are looking for people who are willing to die anytime for Korea. We prefer those who are skilled at martial arts. Even if you are not, you are qualified as long as you are willing to risk your life to save the country on the brink of sinking just like Yu Gwan-sun, Yun Bong-gil and An Jung-geun did.”

It is unclear who made the ad in the first place, but it has spread quickly through the instant message app KakaoTalk and other online channels.

On such digital platforms, it is easy to find messages that encourage people to “assassinate” or harm popular left-wing politicians, journalists and anyone who is deemed to be critical of the Park administration, which has collapsed under a massive influence-peddling scandal involving her close friend Choi Soon-sil.

On Friday, police officers started to watch over all the Constitutional Court justices around the clock.