Each day, thousands of demonstrators meet near the South Korea court, which fortified its walls with razor thread while its eight judges are preparing a decision that could shape the future of the country’s democracy. Many shout at the court to withdraw Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of the country, accusing him of “insurrection”. Nearby, a rival group sings for its reintegration, calling for its dismissal by the “fraudulent” parliament.
The attacks are never so high in South Korea before a court decision as they do now, while the country impatiently awaits that its Constitutional Court decides to withdraw or restore Mr. Yoon. The court’s decision could help end the months of political disorders that Mr. Yoon sparked on December 3 with his failed attempt to place his country under martial law.
Or it could push the country into a deeper political crisis.
The South Koreans tire of prolonged political uncertainty and wish that the court will soon decide. But he kept them in advance for weeks, giving no clue when his judges probably deliver the most substantial decision of their careers.
Police are preparing for the worst, regardless of the decision of the decision. Schools, street vendors and a former royal palace in the Constitutional Court will close the day of the decision. Police called for the elimination of rocks, empty bottles, garbage cans – anything that could be a weapon – streets. About 14,000 police officers are ready to deploy. The drones have been prohibited from flying over the courthouse, and the country’s 86,000 private firearms must be locked in the police.
While the deliberations were dragging, conspiracy theories abounded. Some have hypothesized that the court was irreparably divided. (The votes of at least six of the eight judges are necessary to withdraw Mr. Yoon. Otherwise, it will be reinstated.) Others said that he was taking time to make his historic waterproof.
“The country is at the crossroads,” said Cho Gab-Je, an eminent South Korean journalist and publisher who has covered the political development of the country since 1971. “If the tribunal reinstalls Yoon in office despite what he has done, he will give future leaders of the country a license to govern by martial law. South Korea will become a banana republic.”
Mr. Yoon’s martial law only lasted six hours, but caused a fury among many South Koreans. The National Assembly dismissed it on December 14, the suspended from its functions. If Mr. Yoon is removed, South Korea will eliminate a new president within 60 days.
Surveys in recent weeks have shown that the South Koreans have preferred that Mr. Yoon to reintegrate approximately 3 to 2. But in a deeply divided nation, the decision of the Parliament to remove it also galvanized political law, fueling their fear and their hatred of their progressive political opposition.
No matter what he decides, the court will anger a large part of the company. People on both sides have shaved their heads or hungry strike to put their requests on their requests.
“If he approves the dismissal of Yoon, there will be a certain agitation, but the political landscape will move quickly to a presidential election,” said Shang E. Ha, professor of political science at the University of Sogang in Seoul. “But if he comes back to functions, even those who patiently awaited a decision will go on the street. We will see riots.”
In a typical anti-Yoon rally, participants hold signs that call him “the leader of the insurrection” and sings for his “immediate immediate”.
But the extremely right Christian pastors and Christian legislators who argued Mr. Yoon threatened to “break” the court if he decided to withdraw it. In January, dozens of supporters of Yoon vandalized a courthouse in the Seoul district after a judge issued a mandate to arrest him for an accusation of insurrection. Two supporters of Mr. Yoon died after burnt down to protest against his dismissal.
Police also assigned bodyguards to Lee Jae-Myung, the main opposition chief, after his party reported anonymous assassination threats. The officers escorted the eight judges during their journey to and from the court.
“I urge the people to respect and accept everything the court decides,” said finance minister Choi Sang-Mok, the country’s acting president, while expressing his concern about the potential of violent clashes.
When the court decided to withdraw another dismissed conservative chief, President Park Geun-Hye, in 2017, there were no violent deaths in the demonstrations resulting, although four people rallying to his support, either from heart failure or a shot by a falling object.
In an increasingly polarized time, the trial of the dismissal of Mr. Yoon is even more emotionally loaded.
In 2017, rival political parties agreed for weeks before the court’s decision that they would honor it. Ms. Park waited in silence for the decision, while her party moved away from the disgraced leader in corruption and abuse of power.
Mr. Yoon, who also faces a criminal accusation of insurrection, has shown no intention to go there quietly. His Power Party people and the voters on the right older and at the older and church in the country have rallied behind him.
He defended his declaration of martial law as an effort to save his country from the “dictatorship” of the National Assembly controlled by the opposition and “anti-state forces”.
But the political instability that Mr. Yoon triggered has left his country without a leader elected at a time when North Korea increases its nuclear threat and strengthens military links with Russia. Although South Korea is one of the main American allies, its chief has not yet met President Donald J. Trump while leaders of other nations, including Japan.
The American Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, decided to jump South Korea during his next trip to the Indo-Pacific region while political limbo remain. In February, the economist intelligence unit 2024 democracy index Droprada South Korea of a “defective democracy” to a “defective democracy”.
In his latest argument for the Constitutional Court last month, Yoon said that if he was authorized to resume the presidency, he would leave internal affairs to the Prime Minister and focus on diplomacy. But Mr. Lee, the head of the opposition, said that Mr. Yoon had already done enough damage to the country’s world image.
“We can only overcome the current crisis when we remain normal leadership,” he said.
