en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Park_Geun-hye
1 correction found
Under the Constitution, if the impeachment were upheld, new elections would have had to be held so a new president could take office by October 2017 at the latest.
This timeline is too late. The Constitutional Court had 180 days to decide, and South Korea’s Constitution requires a successor to be elected within 60 days of a presidential vacancy, so the latest possible handover would have been in early August 2017, not October 2017.
Full reasoning
South Korea’s Constitution does not allow the presidency to remain vacant until October 2017 after an upheld impeachment.
- The Constitutional Court’s own procedural guidance says it must issue a final decision within 180 days after receiving an impeachment case.
- Article 68(2) of the Constitution says that when a presidential vacancy occurs, a successor must be elected within 60 days.
So even if the Court had used nearly the full 180-day window and ruled in early June 2017, the replacement election still had to occur by early August 2017. That makes "by October 2017 at the latest" incorrect by roughly two months.
This correction is based on the official legal deadlines; the "early August 2017" conclusion is an inference from those deadlines.
2 sources
- Constitutional Court of Korea > Jurisdiction > Court Procedures > Filing Process
The Constitutional Court shall pronounce the final decision within 180 days after receiving the case for adjudication.
- CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA, Article 68
In case a vacancy occurs in the office of the President ... a successor shall be elected within sixty days.