Protests for and against Yun Seok-yeol fill the streets as the Constitutional Court decides whether his ill-fated martial law declaration justifies his resignation.
Every day, thousands of protesters gather outside South Korea’s Supreme Court, whose walls are reinforced with barbed wire, as eight justices prepare a ruling that could determine the future of the country’s democracy. Many are shouting for the court to remove President Yoon Seok-yeol, accusing him of “rebellion.” Nearby, a rival group chants slogans for his reinstatement, calling his impeachment by parliament “fraudulent.”
Never before has anxiety in South Korea been so high ahead of a court ruling as the country anxiously awaits a decision by the Constitutional Court on whether to remove or reinstate Mr. Yoon. The court's decision could help end months of political unrest that Mr. Yoon unleashed with his failed attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 3.
Or it could plunge the country into a deeper political crisis.
South Koreans are tired of the prolonged political uncertainty and want the court to rule quickly. But it has kept them on edge for weeks, giving no indication when its judges will make what is likely the most important decision of their careers.
Police are preparing for the worst, no matter what the decision is. Schools, street vendors and the former royal palace in the area around the Constitutional Court will close on the day of the ruling. Police have called for stones, empty bottles, trash cans — anything that could be a weapon — to be removed from the streets. About 14,000 officers are ready to go. Drones are banned from flying over the courthouse, and all 86,000 privately owned guns in the country must be kept locked in police stations.
As the deliberations dragged on, conspiracy theories multiplied and speculation flourished. Some suggested the court was irreparably divided. (At least six of the eight justices would need to vote to remove Mr. Yun. Otherwise, he would be reinstated.) Others said it simply needed time to make its historic decision irrefutable.
“The country is at a crossroads,” said Cho Gab-jae, a prominent South Korean journalist and publisher who has covered the country’s political evolution since 1971. “If the court reinstates Yun despite what he has done, it will give the country’s future leaders license to rule under martial law. South Korea will become a banana republic.”
