South Korea’s acting president faces impeachment vote over devaluation of currency | Political news

A proposal to suspend Han Duck-soo, the interim leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, plunges the country into further uncertainty.

South Korea’s legislature is set to vote on the impeachment of its acting president as ongoing turmoil in Asia’s fourth-largest economy plunges the economy to levels not seen since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) is seeking to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in a National Assembly vote on Friday after accusing suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol of complicity in a coup attempt.

The DP, which holds 170 seats in the 300-member legislature, filed the impeachment motion on Thursday after Han refused to fill three vacancies on the court set to hear Yoon’s impeachment trial after Han declared a short-term martial law.

Khan’s People’s Power Party (PPP) has argued that only the elected president has the power to appoint judges to the Constitutional Court.

At least six of the court’s judges must support Yoon’s impeachment to remove him from office.

The court currently has only six judges after three retired earlier this year, meaning the court would have to rule unanimously to remove Yoon from the presidency.

The court is set to hold its first hearing on Yoon’s impeachment on Friday and could take up to six months to deliver its decision.

Yoon, who legally defended the declaration of martial law and aimed to fight “anti-state forces”, is also under criminal investigation on suspicion of sedition and abuse of power.

Han’s impeachment bid, less than two weeks after he took office following Yoon’s impeachment, plunges South Korea into further political uncertainty as the country is still reeling from Yoon’s Dec. 4 martial law decree.

While a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly is required to impeach a sitting president, there is no consensus on whether the same threshold applies to an acting leader.

The PPP argued that two-thirds of lawmakers must approve Khan’s impeachment.

The DP claims that he can be removed from office if 151 MPs support the impeachment, as the constitution provides for the removal of Cabinet members by a simple majority vote.

With the DP, smaller opposition parties and independents holding 192 seats, at least eight PPP MPs need to cross the threshold to reach the two-thirds threshold.

If Han is impeached, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok will act as president.

On Friday, Choi warned that Han’s impeachment would seriously damage the country’s economy and urged the opposition to reconsider his proposal.

“The economy and people’s livelihoods are walking on thin ice under a national emergency that cannot handle the greater political uncertainty that would result from another acting president taking office,” Choi said.

The South Korean won fell sharply against the US dollar on Friday, falling below 1,480 won for the first time since March 2009.