SEOUL - Opposition lawmakers in South Korea were planning to vote Friday to impeach the prime minister and acting president, Han Duck-soo, the latest turn in a political crisis that has created a power vacuum in the country.
Han had been made acting president just this month, after the National Assembly impeached and suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec 14 this year for putting the country under military rule for the first time in 45 years.
Now, barely two weeks into Han’s tenure as acting president, the main opposition party has filed a motion for his impeachment as well. The move came after Han refused Thursday to appoint three judges to fill vacancies in the Constitutional Court, the body that will be deciding whether to reinstate or remove Yoon.
The opposition has pushed for Han to sign off on nominees to fill the bench in the nation’s highest court, but Yoon’s governing party has argued that only an elected president has the power to appoint justices.
At the heart of the matter is how the court might rule on Yoon’s impeachment. Six or more justices out of the nine-member court must vote in favour of impeachment to remove Yoon from office. The top court currently has only six justices, after three others retired earlier this year, meaning that the impeachment could be overturned with just one dissenting voice in Yoon’s trial, which is scheduled to start Friday.
Han said in a televised address that he would hold off on appointing the nominees until the rival parties — that is, Yoon’s People Power Party and the opposition bloc comprising the Democratic Party and other smaller parties — came to an agreement on whether he had the authority to do so as the acting president.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, left, bows to apologise while standing near ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong Hoon as they release a joint public statement after the impeachment vote against the president failed, at the party's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec 8, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)
An acting president should “refrain from exercising the president’s own significant powers, including the appointment of constitutional institutions,” said Han, a career bureaucrat.
Park Chan-dae, the Democratic Party’s floor leader, said to reporters that Han’s words were "not those act of an acting president, but of one who is admitting to insurrection."
The opposition has accused Han of aiding Yoon in his brief declaration of martial law on Dec 3. Lawmakers accused Yoon of perpetrating an insurrection by sending troops into the National Assembly to block them from voting down his martial law and to detain his opponents. The Constitutional Court has up to six months to decide whether to reinstate or remove Yoon.
As for Han, the rival parties have disagreed on how many votes would be needed for him to be impeached. The ruling party maintains that a two-thirds threshold must be met since Han is the acting president. The opposition asserts that a majority vote would be enough to remove him from his office as prime minister as outlined by the constitution. The speaker of the National Assembly, Woo Won-shik, a member of the Democratic Party, will decide before the vote.
Cha Jina, a law professor at Korea University in Seoul, said that Han should be subject to a majority vote because “the acting president in South Korea is not actually the president and is just working in their stead as the prime minister.”
She also noted that this was the first time in the nation’s history that an acting president has faced impeachment.
If Han were to be impeached, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, Choi Sang-mok, would be next in line to be acting president.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Han had been made acting president just this month, after the National Assembly impeached and suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec 14 this year for putting the country under military rule for the first time in 45 years.
Now, barely two weeks into Han’s tenure as acting president, the main opposition party has filed a motion for his impeachment as well. The move came after Han refused Thursday to appoint three judges to fill vacancies in the Constitutional Court, the body that will be deciding whether to reinstate or remove Yoon.
The opposition has pushed for Han to sign off on nominees to fill the bench in the nation’s highest court, but Yoon’s governing party has argued that only an elected president has the power to appoint justices.
At the heart of the matter is how the court might rule on Yoon’s impeachment. Six or more justices out of the nine-member court must vote in favour of impeachment to remove Yoon from office. The top court currently has only six justices, after three others retired earlier this year, meaning that the impeachment could be overturned with just one dissenting voice in Yoon’s trial, which is scheduled to start Friday.
Han said in a televised address that he would hold off on appointing the nominees until the rival parties — that is, Yoon’s People Power Party and the opposition bloc comprising the Democratic Party and other smaller parties — came to an agreement on whether he had the authority to do so as the acting president.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, left, bows to apologise while standing near ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong Hoon as they release a joint public statement after the impeachment vote against the president failed, at the party's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec 8, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)
An acting president should “refrain from exercising the president’s own significant powers, including the appointment of constitutional institutions,” said Han, a career bureaucrat.
Park Chan-dae, the Democratic Party’s floor leader, said to reporters that Han’s words were "not those act of an acting president, but of one who is admitting to insurrection."
The opposition has accused Han of aiding Yoon in his brief declaration of martial law on Dec 3. Lawmakers accused Yoon of perpetrating an insurrection by sending troops into the National Assembly to block them from voting down his martial law and to detain his opponents. The Constitutional Court has up to six months to decide whether to reinstate or remove Yoon.
As for Han, the rival parties have disagreed on how many votes would be needed for him to be impeached. The ruling party maintains that a two-thirds threshold must be met since Han is the acting president. The opposition asserts that a majority vote would be enough to remove him from his office as prime minister as outlined by the constitution. The speaker of the National Assembly, Woo Won-shik, a member of the Democratic Party, will decide before the vote.
Cha Jina, a law professor at Korea University in Seoul, said that Han should be subject to a majority vote because “the acting president in South Korea is not actually the president and is just working in their stead as the prime minister.”
She also noted that this was the first time in the nation’s history that an acting president has faced impeachment.
If Han were to be impeached, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, Choi Sang-mok, would be next in line to be acting president.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
