Police maintain strict security in front of the Constitutional Court in central Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

The Korean public's attention is focused on the Constitutional Court, awaiting the announcement of its final ruling in the impeachment case of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Compared to past presidential impeachments — where rulings were issued 14 days after the final hearing in former President Roh Moo-hyun's case in 2004 and 11 days in ex-President Park Geun-hye's in 2017 — this case has taken the longest time from the conclusion of hearings to a verdict.

On Tuesday, the court announced it would deliver rulings on four impeachment cases, including that of Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choe Jae-hae, at 10 a.m. Thursday — 98 days after the cases were submitted. Along with Choe's case, the court will also issue verdicts on the impeachments of three top prosecutors.

With these rulings set for Thursday, it is now widely expected that the decision on Yoon's case will not come this week. This is because the Constitutional Court has never issued major rulings on consecutive days.

Initially, many observers expected the court to announce the ruling date by early this week and deliver the verdict on Friday, following the timeline of previous presidential impeachments. Given that hearings on Yoon's case concluded on Feb. 25, and based on previous examples, Friday appeared to be the likely date.

However, with the court announcing that the rulings for Choe and the three prosecutors' impeachment cases will be delivered on Thursday, Yoon's verdict may be delayed further.

Although the possibility of the court issuing a ruling this Friday cannot be entirely ruled out, the Constitutional Court typically announces the ruling date two to three days in advance. This means both parties would need to be notified by Wednesday at the latest. Therefore, if no announcement is made by mid-week, the chances of the ruling being pushed to next week increase significantly.

Moreover, the Constitutional Court has yet to set a ruling date for the impeachment trial of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, adding another key factor that could influence the timing of Yoon's verdict.

Justices attend the 10th hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in central Seoul, Feb. 20. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

It has been two weeks since the impeachment trial hearings for the president concluded, and the justices have since been holding daily deliberations.

The deliberations involve reviewing and discussing key issues in the impeachment trial, but it appears the court has not yet reached the voting stage, where the justices formally express their opinions on whether to uphold or dismiss the case.

In major cases, the Constitutional Court typically continues deliberations until the final moment, conducting the voting process just before announcing their verdict. Once the justices vote, the court's ruling summary can be written. Since the summary can only be prepared after the verdict is finalized, it is typically completed right before the decision is announced.

For example, in the impeachment trial of Park, whose ruling was delivered on March 10, 2017, the justices reached their verdict on the morning of that day. The eight justices began their final deliberations at 9:30 a.m. in the court's third-floor conference room and proceeded to vote on the verdict after 10 a.m. The ruling summary was drafted after the verdict was finalized, with the acting chief justice and the case's presiding justice being the last to leave the conference room to refine the summary. At exactly 11 a.m., the justices entered the courtroom, and 21 minutes later, the verdict was announced, declaring, "The respondent, President Park Geun-hye, is removed from office."

Considering these precedents, some expect that the ruling date for Yoon's impeachment will be set for next Monday or Tuesday, with the justices voting early in the day.