Constitutional Court to consider documents as served to President Yoon on Dec. 20

[Anchor]

As President Yoon continues to refuse to receive documents related to the impeachment trial, the Constitutional Court has ultimately decided to consider the documents as delivered and to proceed with the next steps.

The delivery date is the 20th, and therefore, President Yoon must submit his response by the 27th.

Reporter Park Young-min has the details.

[Report]

The Constitutional Court sent documents related to the impeachment trial to President Yoon Suk Yeol starting from the 16th.

However, the Presidential Security Service and the Presidential Office has refused to accept them three times, leading to their return to the Constitutional Court on the 19th.

On the same day, the Constitutional Court sent the documents to President Yoon again, deciding to consider them as having been properly delivered.

This is known as "deemed delivery," which means that the documents are considered delivered when they reach the intended recipient, regardless of whether they were actually received.

The deemed delivery date is the 20th, when the documents arrived at the Presidential Security Service.

[Cheon Jae-hyun/ Senior Constitutional Researcher (Deputy Spokesperson) : "(According to Supreme Court precedents) the effect of delivery occurs when the legal documents reach the place of delivery, so even if the documents are not actually received, the effect of delivery still applies."]

As a result of this decision, President Yoon must submit his response by the 27th.

The 27th is also the first preparatory hearing date for President Yoon's impeachment trial.

It seems that the court had taken into consideration that a delay in the submission of Yoon's response would affect the impeachment trial schedule, but the Constitutional Court stated, "The court made this decision after comprehensively considering various circumstances."

However, there is a possibility of delays in the trial since President Yoon has not yet appointed a lawyer.

[Seok Dong-hyun/ Lawyer : "(Considering that the impeachment motion passed the National Assembly less than ten days ago), don't you think there was insufficient time for the President to communicate his situation and various positions to his lawyers?"]

The Constitutional Court has stated that if President Yoon's side does not attend the preparatory hearing, the court will decide on a response plan.

This is KBS News, Park Young-min.