President Park Geun-hye is beefing up her legal team ahead of the start of her impeachment trial next week.

The state head was impeached by the parliament earlier this month over a scandal involving her confidante. She met with all nine of her attorneys at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday morning to prepare for the inaugural hearing on Jan. 3.

Also in attendance at the meeting were two heavyweight figures of the Korean legal circle -- former Constitutional Court Justice Lee Dong-heub and former Prosecutor General Lee Myeong-jae. The two are advisers and not officially appointed as Park’s representatives, sources said.

Park is likely to add two more attorneys to create a 11-member legal counsel team, another source revealed. 
(Yonhap)The Constitutional Court has planned for the first and second hearings to take place on Jan. 3 and 5, respectively, and is likely to try speeding up the trial process.

Through preliminary hearings -- with the third and final one to be held Friday -- the court has sought to figure out key points of the trial beforehand in order to get a head start.

The parliament’s impeachment motion lists 18 charges against the conservative leader, including violations of multiple clauses of the Constitution, the abuse of power, extortion, leaking government secrets and neglecting her presidential duty to protect the lives of the people.

In a written statement submitted to the court last week, Park denied all charges, claiming that the impeachment was a flawed process based on false accusations and no evidence.

By law, the top court must decide by June 7, 2017, whether to reinstate Park or finalize her dismissal.

By Korea Herald staff  (khnews@heraldcorp.com)