South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly voted Friday to impeach acting President Han Dak-soo despite intense protests by ruling party lawmakers, further deepening the country’s political crisis caused by President Yeon Suk-yul’s imposition of martial law and its aftermath. That’s accountability.
Han’s impeachment means that he will be stripped of the powers and duties of the president until the Constitutional Court decides whether to dismiss him or return him to office.
The court is already reviewing whether to uphold Yoon’s previous impeachment.
The unicameral National Assembly approved Han’s impeachment motion by 192 votes to 0.
Lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party boycotted the vote and gathered around the podium where Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik was sitting, shouting that the vote was “invalid” and demanding Wu’s resignation.
PPP lawmakers protested after Wu called a vote on Han’s impeachment motion after declaring that its passage would require a simple majority in the 300-member chamber, not a two-thirds majority as the PPP claimed. It is possible to remove most officials in South Korea by the National Assembly by a simple majority, but removing the president requires the support of two-thirds. There are no specific laws regarding the impeachment of an acting president.
Han’s powers will be formally suspended when copies of his impeachment document are delivered to him and the Constitutional Court. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mook will assume his duties.
Yoon, a conservative, was impeached by the National Assembly about two weeks ago for briefly imposing martial law on December 3.
His replacement, Han, quickly clashed with the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, opposing opposition-led efforts to fill three vacant seats on the Constitutional Court, conduct an independent investigation into Yoon’s martial law decree, and enact pro-farmer bills.
At the heart of the fight is the Democratic Party’s demand that Han approve the assembly’s nominations of three new judges to the Constitutional Court to restore its full nine-member bench before it issues its ruling on Yoon’s impeachment. This is a politically sensitive issue because the court’s decision to remove Yoon as president needs the support of at least six justices, and adding more justices is likely to increase the odds of Yoon’s ouster.
Yoon’s political allies in the ruling People Power Party oppose the appointment of the three judges, saying Han should not exercise presidential authority to make appointments while Yoon has not yet been formally removed from office.
Hahn said Thursday he would not appoint judges without bipartisan approval. The Democratic Party, which has a majority in the Assembly, filed a motion to impeach Han and passed bills calling for the appointment of three judges.
South Korean investigative agencies are investigating whether Yoon committed rebellion and abuse of power through his marriage law decree.
His defense minister, police chief and several other senior military leaders had already been arrested over the deployment of troops and police officers to the National Assembly, leading to a dramatic standoff that ended when lawmakers managed to enter the chamber and voted unanimously to repeal Yoon’s decree. .
South Korea’s parliament voted on Saturday to impeach President Yoon Suk-yul over a short-lived martial law decree, a historic rebuke welcomed by cheering crowds who described the outcome as another challenging moment in the country’s resilient democratic journey.
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