Constitutional Court Dismisses Yoon Side's Recusal Request for Justice... First Hearing Ends in 4 Minutes (Comprehensive)

The Constitutional Court, currently reviewing the impeachment trial of President Yoon Seok-yeol, dismissed the president's side's request to disqualify a justice on the 14th. The first formal hearing held that day ended in about four minutes due to President Yoon's absence.

On the afternoon of the 14th, the first hearing for the impeachment trial of President Yoon Seok-yeol took place at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where the justices sat in the courtroom. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

At the first hearing of President Yoon's impeachment trial held at 2 p.m. in the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court, Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae stated, "Yesterday, a request to disqualify one justice was submitted, and today, by unanimous decision of the remaining seven justices, the request was dismissed." Following this decision, all eight justices of the full bench, including Justice Jung Kye-seon (with one vacancy), attended the hearing. Appeals against the dismissal of the disqualification request are not permitted.

Acting Chief Justice Moon also said, "The batch scheduling of hearing dates is based on Article 30, Paragraph 3 of the Constitutional Court Act and Article 21, Paragraph 1 of the Constitutional Court Trial Rules, and the Criminal Procedure Rules were not applied," adding, "This is the Constitutional Court, not a criminal court." Earlier, President Yoon's side had filed an objection to the batch scheduling of the fifth hearing date by the Constitutional Court, which was rejected.

Attorney Kim I-su, a representative of the National Assembly's impeachment prosecution team, is attending the "Impeachment Trial Hearing of President Yoon Seok-yeol" held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 14th, and is expressing his position to the press. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

Meanwhile, the hearing ended in about four minutes due to President Yoon's absence, in accordance with relevant provisions of the Constitutional Court Act. Kim Yi-su, a lawyer representing the National Assembly side, told reporters on the way to the courtroom, "Seeking a swift dismissal decision in the impeachment trial is for the restoration of broken democracy and constitutional order." Lawyer Lee Kwang-beom also emphasized, "President Yoon continues to deny the Constitution and laws even at this moment," and "Only a swift dismissal is the answer."

The National Assembly's legal team submitted witness requests for five individuals as the first witnesses in the impeachment trial the day before: Hong Jang-won, former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service; Cho Ji-ho, Commissioner of the National Police Agency; Kwak Jong-geun, Commander of the Army Special Warfare Command; Lee Jin-woo, Commander of the Capital Defense Command; and Yeo In-hyung, Commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command. They also submitted evidence materials obtained from the Central Election Commission, including CCTV footage from the Gwacheon office, Gwanak office, and Election Training Institute, which were raided by armed martial law troops during the declaration of emergency martial law.

Yoon's legal representative Yoon Gap-geun expressed "regret" immediately after the first hearing regarding the Constitutional Court's dismissal of the request to disqualify a justice, stating toward Justice Jung, "I think he will voluntarily avoid participating in the trial." He also argued that the Constitutional Court is "overstepping its authority" by rejecting the objection to the batch scheduling of hearing dates.

Yoon Gap-geun, attorney for President Yoon Seok-yeol, is attending the 'Impeachment Trial Hearing of President Yoon Seok-yeol' held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 14th, and is expressing his position to the press. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

At the next hearing, the trial procedure will proceed even if the parties do not attend. The second hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on the 16th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.