Published : Feb. 23, 2017 - 17:10
Three-quarters of South Koreans want the Constitutional Court to confirm President Park Geun-hye's impeachment and deliver the ruling by March 13, when one of the justices is set to retire, a poll showed Thursday.
The joint survey by NGO People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and two pollsters found that 74 percent of those polled wanted the court to deliver its verdict before acting Chief Justice Lee Jung-mi completes her term.
(Yonhap)
Park's ouster requires the approval of at least six justices.
There are currently eight after one retired last month.
The same percentage of respondents said they support the court's ruling to permanently oust her.
Park was impeached in December over a corruption and influence-peddling scandal centered on her friend Choi Soon-sil.
The survey showed that 69 percent of respondents wanted a special prosecutors' investigation into the scandal to be extended.
The probe is currently set to end on Feb. 28 but can be extended once by 30 days with approval by Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.
"In line with other recent public opinion surveys, we were able to find once again that our people are expecting the Constitutional Court to swiftly uphold the impeachment," the NGO said.
According to the survey, 76.3 percent rejected Park's claims that she has no reason to be impeached. Park's supporters are mostly conservative and older.
In the survey, 59 percent identified themselves as liberal, 31.5 percent as conservative and 10.5 percent as unsure. By age group, those in their 60s made up the largest share at 23.8 percent.
The survey was conducted on Tuesday on 1,200 randomly selected citizens aged 19 and older. It had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. (Yonhap)