Over 96,000 apply for 20 seats at Yoon's impeachment ruling

A screen at the Constitutional Court in Seoul Thursday shows that a ruling on President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment is scheduled for 11 a.m., Friday. Yonhap

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, 96,370 Koreans had applied for a seat at the Constitutional Court’s ruling on Friday regarding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his martial law declaration.

With only 20 seats allocated to the public, the competition rate has surged to a record high of 4,818.5 to 1, making it the highest in the history of the country’s impeachment rulings.

The Constitutional Court began accepting online applications on Tuesday at 4 p.m.; however, the site became inaccessible at times due to heavy traffic.

In the history of the country’s Constitutional Court, the highest competition rate to attend a ruling was for the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017. At that time, 19,096 people applied online for 24 seats in the courtroom, resulting in a competition ratio of 796 to 1.

The competition ratio for the impeachment ruling of former President Roh Moo-hyun was 21.3 to 1, with 1,278 people applying for 60 seats.

However, the highest number of online applications to attend a Constitutional Court event was for Yoon’s first hearing in the impeachment trial, which took place on Dec. 27 last year.

At that time, 22,264 people applied for just nine available seats, resulting in a competition ratio of 2,251 to 1.

The Constitutional Court will select the attendees through an electronic lottery.

Winners will receive individual text messages with instructions on the attendance process.

Yoon’s upcoming ruling has also set a new record for the longest wait for a final decision by the Constitutional Court.

The National Assembly voted on the impeachment motion against him on Dec. 14 last year. With the decision set for Friday, the final ruling will be made 111 days after the motion was passed, setting a new record for the longest period in Korean history.

The impeachment ruling took 63 days for Roh and 91 days for Park.