President Yoon Suk Yeol faces two consecutive hearings after being flatly rejected by the Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court of South Korea has decided to hold the 10th hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial as scheduled on February 20.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces two consecutive hearings on February 20. (Source: Kyodo)

According to Yonhap news agency, President Yoon initially requested to postpone the hearing at 2 p.m. on February 20 (local time) due to scheduling conflicts with the first preliminary hearing in his criminal trial on charges of rebellion at 10 a.m. the same day.

However, Acting Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Korea, Judge Moon Hyung Bae, rejected the request, saying the above schedule was sufficient for both sessions to take place, noting many other factors including the need for coordination by all parties involved.

Despite rejecting the request to postpone the hearing, the Constitutional Court agreed to postpone the afternoon impeachment hearing to 3 p.m. following a new request from President Yoon's lawyer, Yun Gap-geun, citing unforeseen circumstances in the criminal trial that could cause a delay. Thus, the 10th hearing is expected to end at around 9 p.m. on February 20 at the earliest.

The decision by the Constitutional Court of South Korea to stick to the hearing schedule, despite the time limit, suggests the proceedings could end soon, potentially paving the way for a ruling by the end of March on whether to remove or reinstate President Yoon.

There will be one more hearing on February 20 before the trial ends, and each side will be asked to present their final statements. Impeached Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former deputy director of the National Intelligence Service Hong Jang-won have been called to testify at the hearing.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of the Korean National Police Agency Cho Ji-ho refused to testify for the third time. The court asked prosecutors to subpoena Cho, after rejecting two previous requests due to health reasons.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/han-quoc-de-nghi-bi-toa-an-hien-phap-thang-thung-bac-bo-tong-thong-yoon-suk-yeol-doi-mat-hai-phien-dieu-tran-lien-tiep-304834.html