S. Korean court warns against delayed impeachment trial

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South Korea's Constitutional Court, which is deliberating a motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye, on Tuesday warned against any delay of the trial.

Chief Justice Park Han-chul said in the third pleading session that future proceedings must not be postponed for the reason of short preparation time.

People attend a candlelight rally to demand President Park Geun-hye steps down in Seoul, South Korea, on December 31, 2016. /Xinhua Photo

The head of the nine-judge court asked both sides to speed up the legal proceedings, but directed the comment at President Park's legal team. Park's representatives offered details on the impeached leader's whereabouts on the day of the ferry-sinking disaster to the court on Tuesday, 19 days after the court's demand.

The suspected absence of President Park from the presidential Blue House when the passenger ferry Sewol capsized and claimed over 300 lives on April 16, 2014, was cited as one of the main reasons for the impeachment that was passed in the parliament on December 9.

The court has up to 180 days to deliberate, but it has been speeding up the deliberation by holding trials twice a week to minimize the potential for a power vacuum. A presidential election must be held in 60 days if the court upholds the bill.

Park's legal team has been under fire for the suspected delay of legal proceedings. Park's lawyers have demanded a criminal trial on all counts of five constitutional and eight criminal charges against the president.

Proving all the charges will take much longer than the constitutional ruling, which allows the president to be fired on disciplinary grounds if Park violated any of the 13 counts.

South Korea's parliamentary committee on the influence-peddling scandal of President Park Geun-hye and her confidante holds a hearing on January 9, 2017. /CFP Photo‍

Key witnesses have also refused to attend the trial. Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil, at the center of the presidential scandal, as well as two former presidential secretaries, refused or delayed the court's summons.

The head of the parliamentary judiciary committee, which serves as the prosecution at a constitutional trial, raised suspicion that Park's legal team may be intentionally postponing the proceedings by discouraging witnesses from attending the hearing.

(Source: Xinhua)