For South Koreans, the long wait is almost over.
After months of political wrangling, legal drama and historic protests, a decision on the fate of scandal-plagued President Park Geun-hye is expected Friday.
A constitutional court plans to announce in the morning whether to confirm the embattled leader’s impeachment in December by the National Assembly — a decision that would remove her from office and perhaps lead to criminal prosecution.
National opinion polls suggest that many South Koreans want the president removed from office, if not jailed, amid allegations that she participated in a bribery scheme involving the country’s most powerful company, Samsung Group.
The court’s judgement has been highly anticipated, and its decision is set to be carried live on television across the nation.
“I’ve been kind of on edge, as have most South Koreans, one way or the other,” said Kyung Moon Hwang, a history professor at USC who writes a regular column for a newspaper in Seoul.
If the impeachment is upheld, as many analysts predict, the decision would immediately end what has been Park’s controversial four-year tenure leading South Korea — a country of 50 million and Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
That would also prompt a special presidential election within 60 days, probably in early May, a contest that might lead to domestic and foreign policy changes after a decade of conservative party rule.
The nation’s first female leader, Park would also achieve another superlative: the first South Korean president to be removed from office through impeachment.
If the court were to force her to leave, Park might also face criminal charges because she would lose the immunity from criminal prosecution that comes with the presidency. So far she has avoided talking to authorities, a fact that could change if they were to seek an arrest warrant.
Prosecutors just wrapped a three-month investigation into the scandal, leading to more than two dozen indictments, including those of former Park aides and members of her government. They say she pressured the Samsung Group to make payments of about $37 million to a confidant’s businesses in exchange for help pushing through approval of a controversial merger between two of the tech giant’s affiliates.
The merger was seen as an effort to solidify third-generation dynastic control for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the tech giant’s heir apparent who was also arrested in the probe.
Park’s legal team has said the case is politically motivated, but the president has repeatedly apologized. In a letter to the court, she apologized for her “carelessness” but said she never sought personal gain.
Park Young-soo, who led the investigation, said collusive links between large businesses and government, long the subject of scandal in South Korea, were at the heart of the case.
“To truly unify public opinion, it is important that every bit of the truth comes to light,” he said.
The allegations investigated by the prosecutors, which first arose last fall, have led to massive street protests in recent months. Millions of South Koreans have rallied for Park’s ouster, while smaller groups have begun organizing to support her more vocally in recent weeks.
Stiles is a special correspondent.
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