Every day, thousands of protesters gather near the upper south Korea track, which has fortified their walls with razor wire. Their eight judges Prepare a sentence that can shape the future of the country’s democracy. Many call for the court to remove Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of the country, accusing him of « insurrection ». Nearby, a rival group sings for its reinstatement, calling their impedimition to Parliament « fraudulent ».
Jitters have never been so high in South Korea before a court ruling as they do now, while the country is hoping that their constitutional court decides whether to eliminate or refund Mr. Yoon. The court’s ruling could help to end the months of political turbulence, Mr Yoon triggered on December 3 with his failed attempt to place his country under martial law.
Or it could push the country to a deeper political crisis.
South -Coreans have tired of prolonged political uncertainty and want the court to decide soon. But he has kept them on the shore for weeks, without giving any suggestions when their judges probably fulfill the most consequent sentence of their careers.
Police are preparing for the worst, regardless of how the decision goes. The schools, street vendors and an old royal palace around the Constitutional Court will close on the day of the sentence. Police requested the removal of rocks, empty bottles, bins, anything that could be a weapon, from the streets. About 14,000 police officers are ready to deploy. Drones of flying over the court has been banned and all 86,000 privately owned guns in the country have been closed.
As the deliberations were dragged on, conspiracy theories abounded. Some speculated that the court was irreparable. (The votes of at least six of the eight judges are needed to eliminate Mr Yoon. Otherwise, it will be reintegrated.) Others said that he only took time to make his historical sentence stagnant.
« The country is at a crossroads, » said Cho Gab-Je, a prominent journalist and publisher of South Korea who has covered the political evolution of the nation since 1971. » If the court reinstates Yoon in office despite what he did, he will give future leaders a license to govern martial law. South Korea will become the Republic of Banana. »
Mr Yoon’s martial law lasted only six hours But it caused fury among many South -Coreans. The National Assembly imposed it on December 14, suspending it from the post. If Mr Yoon is withdrawn, South Korea will choose a new president within 60 days.
The surveys of recent weeks showed that the South -Coreans preferred that Mr Yoon’s decrease in their reinstatement about 3 to 2. But in a deeply divided nation, the Parliament’s decision to prevent political law has also galvanized, feeding its fear and hatred for its progressive political opposition.
No matter what you decide, the court will angry a large part of society. The people on both sides have shaved their heads or have passed on the hunger strike to pressure their demands.
« If you endorse the arrest of Yoon, there will be a bit of a commotion, but the political landscape will quickly go to a presidential election, » said Shang E. Ha, a professor of political science at the University of Sogang in Seoul. « But if he returns to the post, even those who have been waiting patiently for a sentence will go out. We will see riots. »
In a typical anti-yoon manifestation, participants contain signs that call it « the director of the insurrection » and the singing for their « immediate egg ».
But the far-right Christian shepherds and legislators who supported Mr Yoon threatened to « destroy » the court in case he decided to eliminate him. In January, dozens of Yoon’s supporters vanized by a Seoul district court after a judge there he issued a mandate to arrest him by accusation of insurrection. Two supporters of Mr. Yoon died after setting up in protest of his arrest.
Police also assigned bodyguard to Lee Jae-MyungThe leader of the opposition, after his party reported threats to anonymous murder. The officers have escorted the eight judges to travel to the court.
« I urge people to respect and accept what the court decides, » said Finance Minister Choi Sang-Mok, the country’s acting president, while expressing his concern for the potential of violent conflicts.
When the court was ruled to eliminate another conservative leader, President Park Geune-Hye, in 2017, were no violent deaths in the resulting protests, although four people who gathered in their support died, either due to heart failure or being affected by a falling object.
In an increasingly polarized age, the arrest judgment of Mr. Yoon is even more emotionally charged.
In 2017, rival political parties agreed weeks before the court ruling that would be honored. Ms. Park silently awaiting the sentence, while his party distanced himself from the leader miserable by corruption and abuse of power.
Mr. Yoon, who also faces a criminal accusation of insurrection, has shown no intention of quietly. His party of power of the people and voters of the largest right and the right of the country have met behind them.
He has defended his declaration of martial law as an effort to save his country from the « dictatorship » of the National Assembly controlled by opposition and « anti -state forces ».
But the political instability of Mr. Yoon left his country without an elected leader at the helm at a time when North Korea increases its nuclear threat and strengthens military bonds with Russia. Although South Korea is one of the main allies of the United States, its leader does not yet have to meet with President Donald J. Trump, while leaders of other nations, including Japan, have.
United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has decided to skip in South Korea on its next journey to the Indo-Pacific region while the political limbo is maintained. In February, the economist’s intelligence unit Democracy Index 2024 He reduced South Korea from a « full » to a « defective democracy ».
In his last argument to the Constitutional Court last month, Mr. Yoon said that if the presidency could be resumed, he would leave the national matters to the Prime Minister and focus on diplomacy. But Mr Lee, the opposition leader, said that Mr. Yoon has already done Enough damage to the global image of the country.
« We can overcome the current crisis only when we restore normal leadership, » he said.
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