SEOUL, South Korea — In South Korea’s latest shock political development, a Seoul court on Friday ordered that impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol be released from detention.
The move comes even as the nation awaits an imminent ruling on Mr. Yoon’s fate on a separate legal track: The Constitutional Court is deliberating on whether to remove him permanently from office over his ill-fated, short-lived attempt to declare martial law in early December.
Seoul’s Central District Court on Friday ordered the release of Mr. Yoon. It is not clear if he will be immediately released, or if prosecutors will appeal.
The court’s decision clears the air on one possibility: If Mr. Yoon’s impeachment is overturned but he remains behind bars, the nation would enter uncharted legal-political waters, since never before has a sitting president been detained.
Mr. Yoon was arrested after a dramatic standoff at his residence on 15 January, and has since been under questioning by anti-corruption investigators and state prosecutors on suspicion that his martial law decree legally constitutes insurrection against the democratic order.
Insurrection and treason are the only crimes with which a sitting president can be charged. Sentencing options include the death penalty, a life sentence with hard labor, or life without labor.
The main opposition party, which many forecast to win if the president is removed and new elections are held, was displeased by the recent decision.
“A miscalculation by the prosecution does not erase the fact that an unconstitutional military coup disrupted the constitutional order,” Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Ja-myung told reporters.
In another procedure playing out across town in the South Korean capital, the country’s Constitutional Court is in the final stages of its closed-door deliberations on impeachment. The court ended its hearings on Feb. 25, and past decisions have typically come down within two weeks.
Massive rallies by Mr. Yoon’s conservative supporters — many associated with large Christian churches — are expected in central Seoul this weekend.
If his impeachment is upheld, a new presidential election for a single, five-year term must take place within 60 days. Mr. Yoon’s term was supposed to last until 2027.
According to the most recent polls, the Democratic Party of Korea, which already controls the National Assembly, looks set to win that election.
Not all were unhappy with the order to release the jailed president.
“What happened today is a turning point of the battle around the issue of impeachment,” said Kim Chul-hong, an academic and organizer of pro-Yoon protests. “The flow of water changes — and I expect next week the Constitutional Court will reject … the motion of impeachment.”
