SEOUL – The South Korean court that will rule on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye has only one precedent and little in the law books to go by, and several legal experts said it will have wide discretion in deciding if she is fit to remain in office.
Seven of nine experts interviewed by Reuters said they believed the Constitutional Court’s yardstick in deciding whether Park should remain in office would be less than the standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” for criminal trials, making it more difficult for her to win the case.
South Korean law does not specify the standard needed by the Constitutional Court to reach a ruling. It calls for criminal procedural law to be applied during an impeachment trial “at a level that does not clash with the nature of a constitutional trial.”
Experts say this means that the Constitutional Court has discretion on deciding which part of criminal procedure it will apply, including whether to use a rigorous level of proof, a lower standard, or apply a rigorous standard for some deliberations and a lower standard for others.
Two experts, however, said a high standard would be needed to establish grounds for upholding impeachment.
Park, 64, was impeached by the National Assembly last month over an influence peddling scandal. If the nine-judge Constitutional Court rules that she did allow a friend to have influence over state affairs, as alleged, and that it was an impeachable offense, she will be ousted, making her South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office.
“This is not a criminal trial, it’s a constitutional trial deciding whether a president is no longer fit to carry out presidential duties,” said Noh Hee-bum, a lawyer who worked as a Constitutional Court research judge from 1998 to 2015.
“Although it’s not expressly stipulated in law, it is the prevailing view that the level of proof is not as severe.”
That, some experts said, would make it more difficult for Park.
“The common view, a lower burden of proof, is comparatively unfavorable to Park than a higher burden of proof would be,” said Koh Moon-hyun, a professor at the Soongsil University College of Law.
Park has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and her lawyers have argued that the case should be thrown out.
“In an impeachment proceeding, proof beyond a reasonable doubt is needed,” her lawyer, Lee Joong-hwan, said in court on Tuesday, citing a publication by the research institute attached to the Constitutional Court.
“We can see that this means a rigorous level of proof is needed based on evidentiary principles of criminal procedure,” he said.
The parliament’s impeachment committee and its legal counsel, who are the prosecutors in the case, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Two sessions of the trial have been held this week and Park did not attend, as expected. Lee said he believes she will not appear, barring special circumstances. The court can take several months to deliver a ruling.
Park is accused of violating her constitutional duty by allowing her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to wield undue influence over state affairs and colluding with her to pressure big businesses into making contributions to foundations and enterprises backed by Choi.
Choi is in custody as she undergoes criminal trial for abuse of power and fraud. Her daughter, 20-year-old equestrian competitor Chung Yoo-ra, has been detained by police in Denmark and faces extradition proceedings after being charged with “committing economic crime” in South Korea.
Both have denied any wrongdoing.
Choi told the court on Thursday that she faces “much unfairness” and again denied the criminal charges against her.
Choi, in custody since late October, had declined to appear for questioning at the special prosecutor’s office multiple times, including on Wednesday.
Former presidential aides An Chong-bum and Jeong Ho-seong were present in court on Thursday alongside Choi. They face charges including misuse of power.
“There was no collusion between my client, the president and An. There is no truth in saying the accused (Choi) was involved in collecting funds for foundations from conglomerates,” Lee Kyung-jae, Choi’s lead lawyer, told the court.
“The accused has not sought one bit of financial gain for herself since the day the foundations were established.”
In South Korea’s only previous presidential impeachment, the Constitutional Court overturned a 2004 parliamentary impeachment of then-President Roh Moo-hyun.
The 2004 case mainly involved Roh’s public comments supporting a political party as an election loomed, which the court said violated a law requiring government officials to be politically neutral but was not serious enough to warrant impeachment. The judges voted 6 to 3 to overturn that motion.
In that decision, the court cited five examples of grounds for impeachment, and experts said the impeachment committee is likely to argue in favor of at least three of them in Park’s case — “acts of corruption,” “harming the national interest” and “violating the people’s basic rights.”
As the only precedent, the Constitutional Court is expected to closely adhere to the logic of the 2004 ruling — especially on what constitutes grounds for impeachment, experts said.
Lee In-ho, a professor at Chung-Ang University School of Law, said although the level of proof required to convince the judges was not expressly spelled out in law, a high standard would be needed.
“In 2004, the Constitutional Court ruled that if facts do not verify that the president directed, abetted or otherwise unlawfully participated in the act in question, it is not grounds for impeachment,” Lee said. “I believe the judges will decide that a rigorous level of proof similar to a criminal trial is needed.”
For the impeachment to stand, at least six of the nine judges must rule in favor of it.
The terms of two of them are set to expire soon — one on Jan. 31 and the other on March 13 — potentially leaving just seven judges, the minimum required. If the case goes past March 13, that could work in Park’s favor because the number of judges needed to uphold impeachment remains at six.
Unlike in 2004, each judge’s decision will be made public.

© Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/01/05/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/south-korean-court-little-precedent-wide-latitude-park-impeachment-trial/
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SEOUL: The impeachment trial of South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye got under way Thursday (Jan 5), with her lawyers arguing there is no evidence to back the corruption allegations that threaten to force her from office.
Parliament voted to impeach Park last month over an influence-peddling scandal that has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets every week demanding her removal.
Park is accused of colluding with a longtime friend, Choi Soon-Il, to strong-arm donations worth tens of millions of dollars from top firms which were then funnelled to dubious foundations.
She is also accused of using her influence to ensure the merger of two Samsung units in 2015 in order to help facilitate a father-to-son power succession of Samsung’s founding family.
The National Assembly, which must have its vote upheld by the Constitutional Court, accused Park of a serious breach of the constitution during the first full hearing in the impeachment case.
„The court is requested to fire the president so that impaired constitutional order can be restored“, said Kwon Seong-Dong, a lawmaker representing the parliament.
„She ignored her duty as the head of state and chief administrator of the country. „
The Constitutional Court’s initial hearing on Tuesday was curtailed after Park failed to attend. It decided to proceed on Thursday regardless of whether she was present.
Park’s lawyers urged the court to overturn the vote, saying the impeachment motion had been based on „high possibility at best“ and insisted she be reinstated as president immediately.
„There is no solid evidence to back the impeachment“, Park’s lawyer Lee Jung-Hwan told the court.
Park has repeatedly denied the corruption allegations in sometimes tearful televised addresses, while apologising for lapses.
In a rare meeting with journalists on Sunday, she said she had only sought to listen through Choi to ordinary citizens‘ opinion on her polices and speeches.

© Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/south-korea-president-s-lawyer-says-no-evidence-to-back/3415352.html
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FILE – In this Jan. 11, 2015 file photo, South Korean army K-55 self-propelled artillery vehicles move during a military exercise near the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea. South Korea will form a special military unit this year tasked with removing North Korea’s leadership in the event of war as Seoul looks for options to counter its rival’s nuclear weapons and missiles, an official said Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon. File)
(The Associated Press)
SEOUL, South Korea –   South Korea is accelerating plans to create a special military unit tasked with decapitating North Korea’s leadership in the event of war as it looks for options to counter its rival’s nuclear weapons and missiles.
An official from Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the brigade, which will aim to remove the North’s wartime command and paralyze its function if war breaks out, will be launched this year. The unit was originally planned to be ready by 2019.
North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and a slew of rocket test firings last year in attempts to expand its nuclear weapons and missile program.

© Source: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/bYSm2xhXtRk/s-korea-to-create-unit-to-decapitate-n-korean-leadership.html
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posted at 1:21 pm on January 5, 2017 by John Sexton
It has become routine for North Korea to issue threats of a nuclear strike if the country is attacked. Now South Korea is responding with a threatening warning of its own. The country is openly announcing it will set up a “decapitation unit” capable of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if North Korea initiates a war. From CNN:
The country is speeding up plans to set up what some call a “decapitation unit,” a brigade specifically tasked with targeting North Korea’s “wartime command,” including leader Kim Jong Un, according to a South Korea Defense Ministry official… The brigade was initially supposed to be ready in 2019, but the Defense Ministry now says it’ll be established “by this year.”
This announcement appears to be motivated by recent North Korean provocations including a military exercise last month that simulated an attack on the South Korean equivalent of the White House. From a CNN story published last month:
Photos published in North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun appeared to show a mockup of South Korea’s presidential Blue House as a target. “Well done, the enemy troops will have no space to hide themselves, far from taking any counteraction,” Kim reportedly said after watching the drill, according to North Korean state media KCNA. The report specifically mentioned the South as a target for North Korean forces, as Kim offered advice on a “guerilla warfare” invasion of the country’s southern neighbor and rival.
South Korea suspects Kim Jong un is trying to capitalize on political disruption in the country. South Korean President Park Guen-hye was impeached last month and her authority as president was stripped while a court decides her fate. The court has until June to decide whether her authority should be reinstated or she is removed from office. In the meantime, the public announcement of a “decapitation unit” aimed at North Korea is being made by the Ministry of Defense.

© Source: http://hotair.com/archives/2017/01/05/south-korea-accelerating-creation-of-decapitation-unit-in-case-of-war-with-north-korea/
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A P-3CK Orion plane, similar to the one involved in the mishap.
We spend our days poking at screens without thinking.
Our fingers push, press and swipe long before we consider why they’re doing what they’re doing. Sometimes, our fingers make mistakes. We, though, can generally erase and correct.
That option seems not to have been available to a member of the South Korean navy who managed to push the wrong button at the wrong time, with costly results.
As the Yonhap news agency reports , the navy was performing a routine mission over the East Sea (also known as the Sea of Japan) on Sunday when a substantial amount of its weaponry went south.
It seems that a P-3CK anti-submarine and maritime surveillance plane suffered a human mishap.
„One of the plane’s crew mistakenly touched the emergency weapons release switch,“ an official source told Yonhap.
What was the damage? Three Harpoon missiles, a torpedo and depth charges were sent to the depths. They don’t appear to have hit anyone or anything. However, the navy took a financial hit.
A Harpoon missile retails at around $1.2 million. Your average torpedo — the South Korean navy often uses the Chung Sang Eo model — could cost almost a million. Add the cost of the depth charges and there goes something close to $5 million.
Attempts to contact the Korean navy were unsuccessful, however Yonhap reported that the weapons weren’t armed and that a salvage ship and a minesweeper had been sent to locate them.
I wonder what happened to the button-pusher when the plane returned to base.

© Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/south-korea-navy-wrong-button-loses-5-million-worth-of-weapons/
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