South Korean leaders seek calm after President Yoon’s impeachment | Political news

The main opposition party says it will not attempt to impeach the acting president after the attempted martial law.

South Korea is trying to reassure its allies as the country’s opposition leader offers to work with the government to restore calm after the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Acting President Han Duck-soo spoke by phone with US President Joe Biden on Sunday, the White House and Han’s office said, a day after Yoon’s ouster. attempt to impose martial law earlier this month.

National Assembly of South Korea voted to impeach Yoon on Saturday and removed him from office after plunging South Korea into political turmoil with his takeover.

Han, who served as acting prime minister after being elected by the conservative Yoon, was constitutionally promoted to acting president, while Yoon’s case now goes to the country’s Constitutional Court.

“South Korea will carry out its foreign and security policy without compromise, and will strive to ensure the continuous maintenance and development of the South Korea-US alliance,” Han said, according to a statement from his office.

In another attempt to stabilize the country’s leadership, the main opposition party announced that it would not seek to impeach Han in response to Yoon’s attempted martial law.

“Given that the prime minister has already been confirmed as acting president and that excessive impeachment may cause confusion in national governance, we have decided not to proceed with impeachment proceedings,” Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung told reporters.

Lee, whose party holds a majority in the National Assembly, urged the Constitutional Court to quickly rule on Yoon’s impeachment and proposed the creation of a special council for political cooperation between the government and parliament.

Prosecutors said Yoon failed to appear on Sunday morning in response to a subpoena for a criminal investigation into the martial law order and said they would issue another order, Yonhap news agency reported.

Yoon and a number of senior officials face potential charges of sedition, abuse of power and preventing people from exercising their rights.

Demonstrators demanding Yoon’s ouster braved the cold by pouring into the streets in front of the National Assembly building where he was impeached. Yonhap reports that according to the police, the crowd was about 200,000.

Protesters have been taking to the streets since martial law was declared on December 3, when a swift response from the opposition and protesters prevented Yoon’s bid from succeeding.

Yoon’s surprise declaration of martial law angered markets and South Korea’s diplomatic partners as they worried about the country’s ability to contain its nemesis North Korea.

Biden told Han that the US-South Korea alliance remained intact and that Washington would work with Seoul to strengthen it, Han’s office said.

Yonhap said the two countries also discussed North Korea’s military provocations, with Han vowing to continue military training to prevent any breach of national security.

The Constitutional Court has up to six months to rule on Yoon’s removal or reinstatement. If he is removed from office or resigns, new elections will be held within 60 days.