(EDITORIAL from Korea Times on March 10)

Time to end conflict
Turmoil should be averted after impeachment ruling

The Constitutional Court will hand down its verdict on whether to remove President Park Geun-hye from office Friday. Given the gravity of Park's impeachment trial and the public's keen interest, the ruling will be broadcast live.

The top court's decision will decide the political fate of the disgraced leader. If her removal is upheld with the consent of at least six of the court's eight justices, she will be the first-ever president to be removed by impeachment. Park should then leave Cheong Wa Dae and return to her home in southern Seoul to prepare for the prosecution's investigation into the high-profile corruption and influence-peddling scandal. A presidential election will then take place within 60 days.

If the court rejects her impeachment, Park, who has holed up in the presidential office with her power suspended, will return to office immediately. Although her reinstatement is confirmed, she could opt to quit because of the severity of her culpability and negative public opinion about her staying in office until the end of her term in February 2018. But what will happen is anybody's guess.

It is only natural for the eight judges to rule according to the law and their consciences. One can expect them to make a wise and respectable judgment based only on the evidence and facts that have been laid bare.

Police will be on their highest alert Friday for possible chaos and violence following the Constitutional Court's verdict. In fact, fierce rallies by supporters and opponents of Park's impeachment have divided the downtown streets of Seoul in recent months.

It is even openly said that should Park's impeachment be rejected, candlelit protesters would take to the streets in droves to call for her immediate resignation. If Park's ouster is confirmed, anti-impeachment protesters _ mostly conservatives _ would flock to the top court and demand that the decision be reversed.

Whatever the court's ruling is, the nation could be plunged into deeper turmoil. Yet these developments must be averted. Given that it is the final verdict under our constitutional system, we ought to comply with it at any cost.

Expressing opinions logically should be protected as far as the law allows, but demagoguery and violence are unpardonable. The rule of law is one of the key tenets bolstering our democracy and presupposes that court rulings must be honored.

There is no question that Friday's ruling should serve as an occasion for political leaders to end their division, hatred and conflict. This is certainly the time to prepare for the post-impeachment crisis.

President Park, in particular, needs to agonize over how to reunite the nation regardless of how the verdict will turn out. That is the least she can do to atone for the unprecedented presidential scandal.
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