Court to hold final impeachment hearing in Park ' s absence SEOUL , Feb . 27 ( Yonhap ) -- The Constitutional Court is set to hold the final hearing in President Park Geun - hye ' s impeachment trial Monday amid growing tensions between the impeached leader ' s supporters and opponents . Park will not appear at the hearing scheduled for 2 p . m . and instead have her defense attorney read her closing statement . President Park Geun - hye ' s supporters rally outside the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb . 27 , 2017 . ( Yonhap ) The prosecution ' s final argument will be made by Rep . Kwon Seong - dong of the minor conservative Bareun Party , who heads the National Assembly impeachment panel . Park was impeached on Dec . 9 for allegedly letting her friend Choi Soon - sil meddle in state affairs and colluding with her to extort money from local conglomerates . If the court upholds the impeachment and permanently removes Park from office , South Korea is required to hold a presidential election within 60 days . Dozens of Park ' s supporters rallied outside the court early in the morning to demand the court ' s rejection of the impeachment . The protests were nonviolent , although sometimes rowdy , prompting police to intervene and remove protesters from the site . A group of anti - Park protesters are also scheduled to hold a separate rally outside the court before the hearing begins . Park ' s lawyers are again expected to challenge the legitimacy of the trial . They have argued the court has been unfair toward the president by closing hearings at an early date . Some of them have hinted they may not accept the court ' s ruling because it will be delivered by eight justices instead of nine , following the retirement of Chief Justice Park Han - chul last month . The court is widely expected to announce its ruling by March 13 , when acting Chief Justice Lee Jung - mi is set to retire . Some legal experts speculate that the court may break from past practice and announce the date of its ruling at the end of Monday ' s hearing to prevent unnecessary social strife . The court usually announces the date of a ruling three or four days in advance . hague @ yna . co . kr ( END )