Constitutional Court to rule on PM's impeachment on Monday before announcing Pres. Yoon's verdict date

While the country anxiously waits for the Constitutional Court to announce a ruling date for President Yoon's impeachment verdict, the court says it will deliver its verdict on Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's impeachment in the coming week.

Our Oh Soo-young reports.

The Constitutional Court will rule on Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's impeachment on Monday, likely before revealing the date for President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment verdict.

On Thursday, the Court notified the media that the eight-member bench will deliver its decision, on whether or not to uphold the National Assembly's motion to remove the PM from office.

In late December, the National Assembly with an opposition party majority pushed through an impeachment motion against Han.

It accused him of abetting President Yoon’s December 3rd martial law and refusing to approve the appointments of three Constitutional Court justices.

If the Constitutional Court dismisses the impeachment, Han Duck-soo will immediately resume his duties as prime minister and acting president.

As Han's case is largely relevant to the President's impeachment, it seems the Court has deliberated on it first.

Yoon's ruling date, however, is unlikely to be announced this week, according to one official.

As the Court usually gives at least two days of notice in advance, and tends not to schedule ruling dates consecutively, this means the President's impeachment verdict could be delivered on Wednesday at the earliest.

For over three weeks, the justices have been convening every day to deliberate on the top-level case -a record period of time compared to past presidential impeachment cases.

Park Geun-hye's ruling was out 14 days after her final trial hearing, and Roh Moo-hyun's 11 days.

It seems the justices are highly conscious that their constitutional decision could have explosive political and social ramifications, as protests for and against impeachment grow more ferocious by the day.

A poll released on Thursday shows 60 percent of some 1-thousand people surveyed believe the Court should uphold Yoon's impeachment, while 35 percent believe the President should return to office.

57 percent believe the Court will choose to impeach Yoon,.. while 34 percent believe his case will be dismissed.

Those supporting Yoon's impeachment wish to quickly trigger a snap presidential election, which polls show would largely favor opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.

Meanwhile, conservatives including Yoon's supporters are calling for the case to be dismissed, or for the Court to deliver a ruling after Lee Jae-myung's own verdict, on one of his five criminal cases next Tuesday.

Experts say the judicial bench is likely fine-tuning the judgment on Yoon's case to ensure it can be broadly accepted by a highly polarised public.

With various overlaps in the grounds for impeachment between Yoon and Han's respective cases, the Court's ruling on the PM's trial may provide insights into how the justices are deliberating on the President's impeachment.

Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.