Written by Joyce Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea's Constitutional Court controls the fate of President Yeon Suk-yeol after parliament impeached him on Saturday over a martial law decree he issued last week.
Here are the key issues for South Korea's way forward.
What's next?
Yoon's presidential powers were suspended but he remained in office, retaining immunity from most charges except rebellion or treason. Prime Minister appointed by Yoon Han Dak-soo serves as acting president.
The Constitutional Court must decide within 180 days whether to remove Yoon from office or reject the accusation and restore his powers. If the court impeaches Yoon or he resigns, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
It is possible that the court will hold its first sessions at any time after it receives Parliament’s decision regarding the removal of the president.
Opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Chung-rae, head of Parliament's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, will lead the case for Yoon's impeachment.
Leon's legal team has not been announced, but his background as a prosecutor has sparked reports that he may turn to his former colleagues or even represent himself.
Obstacles to the court's ruling?
Under South Korea's constitution, six judges must agree in order to oust the impeached president. The nine-member Constitutional Court now has three vacant seats, so the current judges must vote unanimously to remove Yoon.
The three vacant positions are allocated to Parliament to fill, but the opposition and ruling parties in the Legislative Council have not yet agreed on judicial appointments.
The main opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, is seeking to fill the vacant positions, and acting President Han, despite being appointed prime minister by Yoon, is known for working across multiple administrations and is not expected to block any opposition candidates. .
Democratic Party spokesman Cho Seung-lae said on Wednesday that Parliament is expected to appoint the judges by the end of the year.
What happens in court?
In South Korea's only previous impeachment of a president, the court took three months to oust Park Geun-hye in 2017.
This time, the terms of two justices expire in April, and legal experts expect the court to seek to issue a ruling before then to reduce uncertainty.
Academics say that in the past, Constitutional Court judges did not vote predictably according to political leanings, but rather made their decisions on a case-by-case basis, based on their interpretation of the constitution.
Conservative attempts to rally public support for Leon are not expected to influence the court's ruling, as Park was removed from office despite continued conservative marches to keep her in power, which competed with candlelight marches to remove her from power.
In the case of Park, who belonged to the conservative party, the court voted unanimously to impeach her, including some judges considered conservative and two Park appointees.
Yoon also faces criminal investigations related to the martial law order.
If he is charged, he can ask the Constitutional Court to suspend the 180-day period on the impeachment ruling. The court rejected a similar request in Park's case.
In 2004, then-President Roh Moo-hyun was impeached on charges of failing to maintain political neutrality as required of a high-ranking public official.
The court rejected the request after about two months, and Roh completed his five-year term.
