South Korea’s Constitutional Court stated on Monday that it will start reviewing the impeachment of the country’s President Park Geun-hye next week, Yonhap reported. The court said that the review process can begin once the prosecution provides the documents on its probe into the case for which a court official claimed are estimated to weigh a ton.
Earlier today, the authorities raided the homes of the country’s Minister of Culture and Park’s former Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon in relation to the corruption scandal surrounding the president and her confidante Choi Soon-sil.
The court has six months to review the case and decide on Park’s fate. In the meantime, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn took over as the country's acting president on December 9 when the parliament voted to impeach Park.
If the court approves the impeachment passed in parliament, a presidential election, which was originally scheduled for December 2017, will have to take place at an earlier date. A poll released earlier today showed that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is the slight favorite to succeed Park, closely followed by former opposition leader Moon Jae-in.
Image: EPA / STRINGER
