The acting president of South Korea has been impeached. What you need to know – National
impeachment of of South Korea acting president Han Duck-soo Friday plunged the country into more political turmoil that followed in less than two weeks Lawmakers have impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Consecutive impeachments It is unprecedented to remove two of the country’s top officials, and the deputy prime minister and finance minister, Choi Sang-mokis now the new interim leader of South Korea. After taking power, Choi quickly ordered the military to step up preparations to deter potential North Korean aggression and told diplomats to reassure key partners such as the United States and Japan.
“(Han’s) impeachment now creates an opportunity for external threats, while forcing Korea’s foreign partners to distance him from the world community,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.
Take a look at the latest developments in South Korea’s political turmoil, which began with Yoon’s short-lived Dec. 3 martial law.
Why was the leader impeached?
South Korea’s No. 2 official, Prime Minister Han Duk-soo, became interim leader after the Assembly impeached Yoon on Dec. 14 over a martial law decree that brought hundreds of soldiers onto the streets of Seoul and returned to military days. Power in the 1960s and 70s.
A career bureaucrat, Han sought to appease key diplomatic partners and stabilize markets. But he was embroiled in political tussles with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which held a majority in the assembly. The main trigger for Han’s impeachment was his refusal to accede to the DP’s request to immediately appoint three vacant judgeships on the Constitutional Court to improve fairness and public confidence in its ruling on Yoon’s impeachment.
Reinstating the court’s full nine-member bench is critical because a court order to impeach Yoon requires the support of at least six justices, and a full bench is likely to increase the prospects of Yoon’s ouster. Han said he would not appoint justices without bipartisan agreement, but critics suspect he is siding with Yoon’s loyalists in the ruling People’s Power Party, or PPP, who want to see Yoon regain power.
Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Presidential Leadership Institute, said Han had no legitimate reason to oppose the appointment of the trial judges. However, he noted that the DP should not have pursued the impeachment of Han so hastily.
What diplomatic failures are expected?
Han’s impeachment comes as South Korea tells the world that things are back to normal after the marriage law incident that unsettled neighbors, halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets.
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Yoon’s deployment has baffled politicians in the United States, Japan and Europe, as he has been their key diplomatic partner against shared challenges, including China’s assertiveness, North Korea’s nuclear threats and vulnerabilities in global supply chains.
“South Korea is now in a more serious crisis of leadership and governance. DP’s political game actually puts the country’s economy and national security at serious risk,” Duyeon Kim said. “Han had the experience and credentials to deal with both security and financial crises should they arise during South Korea’s political uncertainty.”
Choi Jin doubted that interim leader Choi would engage in smooth diplomacy with world leaders. “We will be disgraced in the international world and our international credibility will decrease,” he said. “The negative effects on the economy, culture and all other sectors are likely to come quietly and widely.”
The ruling party argued that Khan’s impeachment was “invalid” because it was passed by a simple majority in the 300-member assembly, not a two-thirds majority as the PPP claimed.
There are no specific laws on the impeachment of the acting president, and the PPP has appealed to the Constitutional Court to review the vote.
It is unclear when the court will rule on the motion. The Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to decide whether to uphold the impeachment of both Yoon and Han, though their ruling is expected to come sooner.
Han called his impeachment “regrettable” but said he respected the assembly’s decision.
The court held its first hearing in Yoon’s case on Friday. If Yoon is removed from office, a national election must be held within 60 days to find his successor. Yoon and others face separate investigations by investigative agencies for sedition, abuse of power and other crimes related to the martial law.
According to polls, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is the clear favorite to win a possible re-election if Yoon is ousted. But Lee has legal problems of his own and could be barred from running for president if the appeals and Supreme Courts uphold his lower court conviction in November for violating election laws.
If he becomes president, his trials will be suspended because South Korean law grants a sitting president immunity from most criminal prosecutions.
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