S. Korea's constitutional court to decide whether to impeach President Yoon on April 4

SEOUL -- South Korea's constitutional court will decide whether to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol on April 4, the court said Tuesday.

The ruling on Yoon will be delivered at 11:00 am local time (0200 GMT) on Friday and it will be broadcast live, the court said in a statement.

The police will issue the highest level of emergency order to deploy about 20,000 riot policemen of 338 units across the country for expected protests and crowd control on Friday.

Of the total, about 14,000 riot policemen will be deployed in Seoul, where the constitutional court is located.

On that day, detectives will be placed inside the court, and if protesters break into the court, they will be caught red-handed.

Police commandos as well as paramedics and ambulances will also be on standby around the court to prepare for emergencies.

Yoon declared an emergency martial law on the night of Dec 3, 2024, but it was revoked by the opposition-led National Assembly hours later.

A motion to impeach Yoon was passed in the National Assembly on Dec 14, 2024, and since then the constitutional court held 11 hearings on Yoon's impeachment.

Yoon was apprehended in the presidential office on Jan 15 and was indicted under detention on Jan. 26 as a suspected ringleader of insurrection, becoming the country's first sitting president to be arrested and prosecuted.

He was released on March 8 as the prosecution decided not to appeal against a court's release approval.