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SEOUL, South Korea — Bus after bus after bus filled with riot police lined streets in northern Seoul around the Constitutional Court on Tuesday for an extraordinary political spectacle: the final hearing in the divisive impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Some 4,000 officers ringed the building as crowds of pro-Yoon supporters massed outside. Inside, the prosecution and defense offered closing arguments late in the evening and the beleaguered Mr. Yoon spoke. The court’s verdict, expected within 14 days, will bring an end to an intense and extraordinary political drama that began with Mr. Yoon’s ill-fated and short-lived declaration of martial law late on Dec. 3.
The National Assembly reversed his stunning televised announcement within hours, after members broke through police cordons and defied special forces units to reach the chamber to vote. On Dec. 14, the opposition-led Assembly voted to impeach Mr. Yoon, driving legal processes to the Constitutional Court.
The stakes could not be higher: If Mr. Yoon’s impeachment is upheld, he will be forced from office and a presidential election will be held within 60 days.
A Realmeter poll this week found that 52% of South Koreans say they want Mr. Yoon removed from office and 45% want him returned to office. Based on past practice, the court is expected to deliver its verdict within two weeks.
Mr. Yoon, who has consistently asserted he had the constitutional right to declare martial law, said Tuesday in his defense: “It was not a state of emergency that suppresses the people by force, but a plea to the people in the guise of a state of emergency.”
“This was never a decision made for my personal benefit,” he added. In his opinion, South Korea was facing “an existential crisis.”
Having long claimed that “anti-state” forces were at work, he contended that North Korea had sent secret messages inciting groups in South Korea to use events such as the 2022 Halloween crowd crush tragedy in Seoul to sow dissension.
He acknowledged that Koreans might have “negative memories from the past” about martial law. The tactic harked back to the authoritarian governments that ruled South Korea until democratization was won in 1987.
He expressed apologies and gratitude to the public.
“The emergency martial law ended after two hours, and not a single citizen was injured in the process of declaring and lifting the decree,” one of his attorneys told the court.
Another complained of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea’s self-centered politicking and repeated moves to block the president’s agenda in the National Assembly: “The state created by the opposition party is a state of national emergency.”
The DPK, the leftist main opposition, has overturned investigations into its members, impeached record numbers of government-appointed officials and slashed multiple budget items.
Mr. Yoon’s critics argue that the martial law declaration was designed to overthrow the democratic order and was unconstitutionally executed, partly because Mr. Yoon did not notify the National Assembly before carrying out his plans. They also questioned Mr. Yoon’s charges of electoral interference and insisted that lawful politicking within the Assembly does not constitute an emergency.
The court hearings have sometimes featured testy discussions about the events of Dec. 3 by people connected to Mr. Yoon, including Cabinet members and military, police and intelligence officers who were summoned to testify.
If his impeachment is overturned, Mr. Yoon can return to the presidential office, though he must first be released from detention. He is being held on charges of insurrection filed by state prosecutors, one of only two crimes for which presidents lack immunity, in a process separate from but concurrent with the Constitutional Court’s.
If the Constitutional Court reseats him but prosecutors continue to detain him, Mr. Yoon and South Korea will face an unprecedented legal and constitutional situation.
Recent polls say the opposition DPK is the favorite to win if a snap presidential election is called. A Gallup poll late last week found the party had 44% support, compared with 22% for Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party. South Korean liberal pundits say Mr. Yoon’s unconvincing performance in court has turned undecided voters away from his party.
The DPK holds a majority in the single-house National Assembly. If it wins the presidency for a five-year term, it will wield massive unchecked power until the next National Assembly elections in spring 2028.
On the streets, South Koreans are bitterly divided over Mr. Yoon and his fate. Demonstrators for and against the president have braved frigid temperatures, signifying deep polarization across society.
Mr. Yoon’s right-wing supporters are convinced of electoral interference, though Mr. Yoon has been unable to prove it despite deploying commandos to recover data from the National Electoral Commission during his short-lived martial law bid.
Many have adopted the slogans of President Trump’s supporters after he lost his 2020 reelection bid, holding signs reading, in English, “Stop the Steal” and alleging Chinese influence and interference.
Unusually for a country with a long tradition of noisy but peaceful street politics, violence erupted when pro-Yoon demonstrators broke into a court last month.
They were infuriated by Mr. Yoon’s arrest after a virtual siege of his residence by police and investigators who sought to question him over the martial law declaration and its aftermath.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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