Do pressures on Constitutional Court signal disobedience to impeachment ruling?

Leaders of the three opposition parties on Wednesday urged the Constitutional Court to confirm‎ the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye by speeding up the proceedings to ensure a ruling is made before another justice retires next month. They also called on Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn to approve the extension of the special prosecutors’ mandate for probing the corruption scandal that led to her impeachment and allow the investigation team to search the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. It is a clear violation of the rule of law and the separation of powers for the opposition parties to suggests a conclusion on the impeachment trial and urge the top court to follow it. What would the Constitutional Court be for?

Moon Jae-in, former head of the main opposition Democratic Party, urged the public to “join forces again” on Wednesday, a day after calling for a bigger candlelight rallies against Park. The party’s current leader, Choo Mi-ae, also vowed to stage an “all-out struggle” for Park’s early impeachment and extension of the special investigation. It seems that the opposition camp’s instigation is becoming more organized to put pressure on the Constitutional Court to confirm‎ the impeachment.

President Park is also becoming more blatant in resisting her impeachment and investigation. Her office said the president could reject the independent counsel team’s questioning of her, claiming that the investigators leaked the schedule. If the president refuses the questioning, the investigators cannot force her to accept it, as the Constitution grants the president criminal immunity while in office except for insurrection or treason. It is impossible for the investigators to forcefully subpoena or arrest the president. However, Park said in a recent media interview that she would accept her questioning. It is abnormal for the president to refuse to avail herself for the independent counsel’s questioning after failing to show up at the prosecution’s interrogation and the Constitutional Court’s impeachment trial. All people, including the president, are equal before the law.

An increasing number of lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party are participating in a pro-Park rallies opposing her impeachment. They have revived the proposal that President Park resign in April and a presidential election be held in June. Such a move undermines the ongoing impeachment procedure. One of Park’s attorneys calling for the Saenuri’s intervention in the process by posting a message on his Facebook page on Tuesday urging the ruling party to create an anti-impeachment task force.

The political scene is in a touch-and-go situation. The anti-Park groups leading the candlelight rallies are preparing nationwide protests on February 25, the fourth anniversary of Park’s inauguration. If they clash with pro-Park demonstrators at the narrow road in front of the Constitutional Court, unfortunate events could happen. If the top court is swayed by pressures or coercion from certain political forces, there would be future in Korea’s constitutional order.