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President Yoon Suk-yeol stands for a photo with Cheong Hyung-sik after appointing him as a new justice to serve on the Constitutional Court on Dec. 18, 2023. (Yonhap)

Cheong Hyung-sik, a Constitutional Court justice appointed by President Yoon Suk-yeol, will reportedly act as the presiding judge for the president’s impeachment trial. Cheong is the brother-in-law of Park Sun-young, who was appointed as the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Dec. 6, shortly after the insurrection incident on Dec. 3. 

The Constitutional Court reportedly used a computerized system to randomly select the presiding judge for the impeachment proceedings on Monday. Alongside Cheong, Justice Lee Mi-son will act as a specially appointed judge tasked with examining evidence other preparations for the proceedings.

Cheong, who is known for his strong conservative leanings, graduated from the 17th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. Before being appointed by Yoon as a Constitutional Court justice in December 2023, Cheong served as a judge in the Seoul Central District Court and as a chief judge in the Seoul High Court.  

On Dec. 6, three days after his martial law declaration, Yoon appointed Park Sun-young, Cheong’s sister-in-law and former Liberty Forward Party lawmaker (president of Mulmangcho, a private corporation), as the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The opposition criticized the appointment as “insurance ahead of the impeachment trial.” 

Justice Cheong Hyung-sik arrives at the Constitutional Court on Dec. 16, 2024. (Yonhap)

During a press briefing on Monday, the Constitutional Court did not announce the presiding judge for the impeachment trial. The court revealed the presiding judges ahead of the respective impeachment trials of Presidents Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 and Park Geun-hye in 2016, but this time the court stated it would follow “the protocol of nondisclosure.” 

When this decision sparked controversy, acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae said, “The decision to not publicly disclose the presiding justice was made according to internal regulations outlined in Article 9, paragraph 1, subparagraph 4 of the ‘Constitutional Court Guidelines for Written Decisions’ regarding the public disclosure of information pertaining to a public institution. There were no grounds for exceptionalism in this case.” 

Moon said the preliminary hearing would be delegated jointly to two justices, and the hearings thereafter would take place under the authority of the presiding justice and would be subject to the review of all presiding Constitutional Court justices.

“The issue of who the presiding judge, therefore, does not influence the speed or direction of the trial,” Moon said. 

By Oh Yeon-seo, staff reporter

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