Opposition party leaders meet to call on court to promptly uphold Park's impeachment

The leaders of the three opposition parties will meet on Wednesday to call on the Constitutional Court to promptly rule in favor of the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, officials said.

Reps. Choo Mi-ae, Park Jie-won and Sim Sang-jeung, the heads of the Democratic Party, the People's Party and the Justice Party, respectively, will hold a meeting in the afternoon to discuss the impeachment trial and other issues.

The meeting was arranged after the court decided Tuesday to schedule additional hearings through Feb. 22 -- a decision that effectively eliminated the possibility of a final ruling on the impeachment case this month.

From left: Reps. Park Jie-won, Choo Mi-ae and Sim Sang-jeung, the heads of the People`s Party, the Democratic Party and the Justice Party, respectively (Yonhap)

The top court has to make a ruling by early June over whether to unseat or reinstate the president who was impeached on Dec. 9 over a corruption scandal involving herself and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil.

If the court decides to remove Park from office, South Korea will hold a presidential election within 60 days.

At the trilateral meeting, the party chiefs also plan to discuss the issue of extending the independent counsel's investigation period, which ends on Feb. 28. The period can be extended by one month only once, with the consent from Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. (Yonhap)