Yoon Suk Yeol faces other trials on accusations ranging from corruption and favor trading to rebellion, a grave charge that is punishable by life imprisonment or execution.
Cho, who was impeached by lawmakers and arrested a week after Yoon’s power grab, is the first commissioner general of the National Police Agency to be removed by the Constitutional Court.
Despite the lack of a serious response from North Korea, Cho said that Yoon declared martial law by branding the liberal-controlled legislature as “anti-state forces” that must be urgently removed.
Yoon had plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian rule on December 3, sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers voting down his declarati ...
Many members of the conservative People Power Party refused to participate in the votes, which took place after one of the party's lawmakers accused the liberals of being driven by vendetta.
The main conservative candidate, Kim Moon Soo, has struggled to win over moderate, swing voters as his People Power Party remains in a quagmire of internal feuding over how to view Yoon’s actions.
