South Korea will learn the fate of the Park Geun-hye presidency within the next week, when the Constitutional Court is widely expected to announce its ruling on her impeachment trial. The top court’s eight justices are currently deliberating on the 13 charges leveled against Park by the parliament which voted on Dec. 9 to sack the conservative state chief over a scandal involving her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil. The judges will decide if the president breached the country’s Constitution and la

Since the parliament voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye in early December, Park’s staunch supporters have relentlessly taken to the streets with Korean flags in their hands to oppose her removal from office. While the Korean flag has become a symbol of their movement to defend the president, a seemingly unrelated flag has also been carried by many of the -- mostly elderly -- participants at the rallies: the US flag. Conservative civic group members and President Park Geun-hye‘s supporters

The countdown to the ruling on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye has begun, as the Constitutional Court heard the final arguments of Park and the parliament on Monday. The court reviewing the legality of Park’s impeachment held its first closed-door session Tuesday to deliberate on whether Park has broken the law and the Constitution and whether the violations are serious enough to impeach her.President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap)Q. What process do the justices go through to reach a verdict?

President Park Geun-hye and the parliamentary impeachment committee made a final appeal on Monday during Park’s impeachment trial, with the ruling on her fate expected in early March.During the final hearing that began at 2 p.m., Park’s lawyers again questioned the legitimacy of the impeachment process and fairness of the trial, while the parliament asked the court to oust Park to uphold democracy and justice under the Constitution.(Yonhap)“Please declare a victory for those seeking justice, by

The independent counsel investigating the corruption scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye on Friday reaffirmed its stance on suspending the indictment of the president, hinting at its determination to make sure the investigation into Park continues under state prosecutors.The counsel team also said the final investigation result will be announced on March 3 at the earliest, if its deadline is not extended. The team has requested a one-month extension for its investigation and is a

The Constitutional Court reconfirmed Friday that the final hearing for President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial will be held Monday as previously scheduled, regardless of the replacement of an outgoing justice, dismissing Park’s calls for a delay in the last hearing. “The final session will be held on Feb. 27. This decision was already made by all the eight justices,” an official from the court said during a briefing, hinting that the hearing will not be put off even in the case of a boycott

Civic groups called for the enactment of an anti-discrimination act Thursday, taking a swipe at presidential hopefuls who have been reluctant to support the law in the face of fierce opposition from Protestant and conservative groups. An association of 112 civic groups advocating sexual minorities, women, the disabled and migrant workers said that an anti-discrimination act would be a minimum tool to provide the socially marginalized with much-needed protection. An association of 112 civic group

President Park Geun-hye’s defense team Wednesday waged an all-out war against the Constitutional Court, calling it “biased” and even demanding the removal of one of its justices for “taking sides” with the parliament. 　The court, which at one point warned Park’s lawyers to watch their language, rejected their requests for the exclusion of Justice Kang Il-won from the impeachment trial and additional hearings to question witnesses. It, however, did heed their call for more time to prepare for the

The Constitutional Court reviewing the legality of President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment Monday urged President Park to decide by Wednesday whether she will appear at court for closing arguments.It also rejected the request by Park’s lawyers for more hearings to review evidence and cancelled the questioning of absent witnesses in a display of strong determination to conclude the historic trial before mid-March. (Yonhap)“Please confirm whether she will appear or not before the next hearing. We ha

With the arrest of Samsung Group’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong, the special counsel team is likely to accelerate its investigation into President Park Geun-hye who is suspected of receiving bribes and giving favors in return. Lee, Samsung Electronics vice chairman, was arrested early Friday morning, after a court approved the second request from the counsel to issue a warrant. He is suspected of offering 43 billion won ($36 million) to Choi Soon-sil, Park’s longtime friend, which the investigator

The independent counsel team looking into the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil on Thursday officially requested an extension of its investigation. “We took into account that we cannot complete the probe into those involved in the scandal (by the given end date of the investigation),” the independent counsel’s spokesperson Lee Kyu-chul told reporters. “We can more efficiently use the investigation period if we know in advance whether t

A Seoul court on Thursday dismissed an independent counsel’s request to suspend the presidential office’s refusal to be searched by investigators, effectively killing the possibility of an unprecedented raid of the nation’s highest office. The Seoul Administrative Court dropped the case on the grounds that the independent counsel, as a state authority, cannot lodge an administrative lawsuit against the action or decision of another state authority.  (Yonhap)Lee Kyu-chul, spokesperson for special

An independent counsel looking into the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye said Wednesday that Park and her confidante Choi Soon-sil made hundreds of phone calls while Choi was on the run in Germany amid the spiraling corruption scandal. The independent counsel said that President Park and Choi had some 570 calls using phones registered under borrowed names from April to late October in 2016, with the last phone conversation made on Oct. 26 a few days before Choi’s return to Ko

At the presidential impeachment trial Tuesday, the Constitutional Court accepted a set of transcripts of controversial audio files as evidence, which the parliament sees as possible proof of President Park Geun-hye’s overreliance on her confidante Choi Soon-sil in state affairs.  　During the 13th hearing, the court accepted the request by the parliament’s defense team to recognize the 29 transcripts of audio files as valid evidence. 　The transcripts could indicate President Park’s involvement in

The independent counsel probing the nation’s corruption scandal on Friday raided the offices of an antitrust body and financial regulator as part of an investigation into the bribery allegations involving President Park Geun-hye, her confidante Choi Soon-sil and Samsung Group.The team led by Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo searched the offices of the Fair Trade Commission in Sejong and the Financial Services Commission in central Seoul, seeking to secure personal data and financial records of