South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Monday began reviewing the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol over his Dec. 3 martial law proclamation, starting a process to decide if he will be removed from office, while investigators plan to question him this week on criminal charges.
The court will hold the first public hearing on Dec. 27, spokesperson Lee Jean told a news conference, after the court’s six justices met to discuss plans for reviewing the impeachment by the opposition-controlled parliament on Saturday.
The court has up to six months to decide whether to remove Yoon from office or to reinstate him.
The first hearing will be “preparatory” to confirm major legal issues of the case and the schedule among other matters, Lee said.
Yoon is not required to attend that hearing, she said.
In 2017, the court took three months to issue a ruling to strip then-President Park Geun-hye of the presidency following her impeachment for abusing the powers of her office.
Yoon and a number of senior officials also face potential charges of insurrection for the short-lived martial law.
A joint team from the police, the defense ministry and an anti-corruption agency are planning to call Yoon in for questioning at 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Wednesday in connection with the charges, a police official told.
The presidential security service declined to accept summons for Yoon to appear saying it was not in the position to do so, Yonhap news said. An anti-corruption agency said the summons was also sent by express registered mail.
