Impeachment maintained
Eight judges of the Constitutional Tribunal unanimously decided to hold Jun's impeachment application and remove him from office.
Jun has not served as president since 14 December, erstwhile the South Korean Parliament decided to dismiss him, accusing him of violating the constitution and the law. In the message of reasons for the decision, acting as Chief justice of the Constitutional Courts of Mun Hjung Be stated that Jun broke the fundamental principles of a democratic state.
The grounds for the judgement highlighted that Jun did not follow the required procedures for the introduction of martial law. It was besides found that he violated the constitutional order of power, restricted fundamental civilian rights and exercised extraordinary powers outside the limits set out in the Constitution.
Violation of military political neutrality
The judgment’s justification refers to allegations of military and police mobilization in order to prevent the MPs from voting to abolish martial law and arrest leading politicians and judges.
The Constitutional Court found that Jun violated the rule of political neutrality of the military and the duties of commander, directing the armed forces against the citizens. It was stressed that there was no real national threat and that the situation could have been solved by another means than military use.
It was besides pointed out that specified unconstitutional and illegal actions are contrary to the principles of the Constitution and cannot be tolerated.
As Mun said:
We cannot accept the defendant's argument that martial law was just a informing due to the fact that he did not halt at the martial law announcement and mobilized the military and police" to detain prominent politicians and judges.
When reading the decision, the president was not in the courtroom.
Crowds on the Street
In downtown Seoul, crowds of supporters and opponents of Jun gathered, and thousands of policemen secured the area around the Constitutional Court.
It should be noted here that, following the decision of the Jun Court, which has been suspended in its duties to date, it has become the second democratically elected president of South Korea removed from office.
Regardless, Jun besides heard allegations of a coup organization and was arrested on January 15, although he was released on March 8. His criminal trial will begin on April 14th. Presidential immunity does not defend against accusations of treason and coupe for which he is facing life imprisonment or death penalty. However, it should be noted that in South Korea no specified execution has been carried out since 1997.
