A surge in impeachment trials for high-ranking officials has left South Korea’s Constitutional Court struggling with a growing backlog, delaying key rulings on constitutional rights and judicial reviews, data shows.
The National Assembly passed 13 impeachment motions between 2023 and 2024, sending them to the Constitutional Court for review. This coincided with a sharp rise in the court’s average case processing time, raising concerns over delays in rulings on fundamental rights cases.
“The excessive number of impeachment cases is now impacting decisions on constitutional rights,” said Ku Ja-keun, a lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party (PPP). “Citizens filing constitutional complaints typically wait about two years for a ruling.”
The Constitutional Court has long faced criticism for delays, but the recent wave of impeachment trials has worsened the situation, legal experts say. While the court is legally required to conclude cases within 180 days, the percentage of cases resolved within this timeframe has dropped from 23.6% in 2019 to just 9.8% in 2024. Meanwhile, cases exceeding 180 days surged from 76.4% to 90.1% over the same period.
Data obtained by Ku from the National Assembly Budget Office shows the court’s average case processing time climbed from 480.4 days in 2019 to 809.2 days in 2023, before improving slightly to 724.7 days in 2024. This increase occurred despite a modest rise in the court’s workforce, from 54 employees in 2019 to 57 in 2023.
Legal scholars argue that the court’s tendency to prioritize politically sensitive impeachment cases has slowed decisions on other constitutional disputes. In 2024, impeachment rulings took an average of 260 days, while other cases faced significantly longer delays—899.3 days for rulings on the constitutionality of laws, 715 days for constitutional complaints, and 595 days for competence disputes between government agencies.
“The court prioritizes cases with greater social impact, which naturally leads to impeachment cases being processed first,” said Hwang Do-soo, a former Rapporteur Judge and professor at Konkuk University Law School. Dongguk University honorary professor Kim Sang-kyum noted that public scrutiny of impeachment cases compels the court to allocate more resources to them, further delaying other cases.
Some legal experts warn that prolonged case delays could infringe on citizens’ rights. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Lee In-ho, a professor at Chung-Ang University. “The Constitutional Court is meant to be the final recourse for citizens seeking protection of their fundamental rights, but excessive legislative actions have partially paralyzed its function.”
Since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office, the Constitutional Court has ruled on eight of the 13 impeachment motions filed against high-ranking officials, dismissing all of them. The remaining five cases are still under review.
Lee Ho-sun, dean of Kookmin University’s college of law, warned that frequent impeachment motions are not only straining the executive branch but also undermining the judiciary’s core function. “Unrestrained impeachment proceedings threaten the separation of powers, which is a fundamental pillar of democracy,” he said.
