World Council of Churches letter urges quick resolution, in sign of growing support for Yoon’s removal
A major Protestant church alliance in South Korea again ramped up calls for ousting President Yoon Suk Yeol, citing a global church coalition letter it said indicates growing support for holding Yoon accountable for his martial law decree in December.
Pastors at the National Council of Churches in Korea, one of the four largest Protestant alliances in the country, disclosed the letter from the Geneva-based World Council of Churches that asked the Constitutional Court of Korea to quickly end Yoon’s impeachment trial for the benefit of democracy and the rule of law.
The letter, the second of its kind since the short-lived martial rule late in the night of Dec. 3, was a sign of growing support for the court to rule against Yoon in a ruling to come Friday, said the Rev. Kim Jong-seng, the NCCK general secretary, at a press conference Wednesday.
The letter to the church alliance known for backing progressive causes singled out “uncertainty, unrest and division” mounting in Korea, urging the court to “restore confidence in the future of democracy and the rule of law,” in a petition addressed to Moon Hyung-bae, acting chief justice of the Constitutional Court.
The letter was dated Monday. On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court announced that it would deliver its verdict on Yoon’s impeachment on Friday.
While the letter did not explicitly blame Yoon for the political confusion now gripping the country, senior leaders at both the NCCK and WCC share such an understanding, according to a NCCK official.
And Yoon is hardly the only individual to be held accountable, said the Rev. Kim Sang-keun, a prominent church elder leading an ad hoc committee helping promote better politics at the NCCK.
“Those who have outright violated the Constitution include the prime minister and the finance minister,” Kim said, referring to the most senior Cabinet officials who both refused to appoint court justices as acting president.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok was the interim leader from Dec. 27 to March 24, a role Prime Minister Han Duck-soo took back when the Constitutional Court cleared his December impeachment prompted by his refusal to appoint court justices. Han still is sitting on naming a justice to fill the final seat of the nine-judge bench.
The two officials in the process had delayed justice, the Rev. Kim said, adding they need to face “some form of punishment.” Kim did not elaborate on what that would look like.
Metropolitan Ambrosios Cho Sung-am, the NCCK president, said democracy is sacred and that people’s actions are far more important than people themselves in the institution.
siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com
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