Seoul: On Sunday, South Korea’s opposition leader called on the Constitutional Court to expedite the formal impeachment process of President Yoon Suk Yeol in order to alleviate the “suffering of the people” following his brief declaration of martial law.
Lawmakers voted to impeach President Yoon on Saturday due to his “insurrectionary” suspension of civilian governance, which has resulted in significant political turmoil within the nation. Following the impeachment vote, Mr. Yoon was suspended from his position, with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stepping in as interim leader.
To further stabilize the situation, the main opposition party, the Democratic Party (DP), stated they would refrain from pursuing impeachment against Mr. Han for his role in Yoon’s martial law decision made on December 3.
What’s Current in South Korea? In light of the political crisis, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, now acting president, took steps to reassure allies and stabilize financial markets. In his inaugural address, he committed to “ensuring stable governance.”
Mr. Han also had a conversation with US President Joe Biden, emphasizing that South Korea would continue its foreign and security policies without interruption and would work to maintain and strengthen the South Korea-US alliance.
According to the White House, President Biden reassured Mr. Han that the strong US-South Korea alliance remains intact and expressed a willingness to collaborate with Seoul on enhancing trilateral cooperation, including engagement with Japan.
Biden acknowledged the resilience of South Korea’s democracy and the commitment of the US to the nation, highlighting the importance of the alliance for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific under Acting President Han’s leadership.
Mr. Han quickly convened his cabinet and National Security Council after the impeachment vote, pledging to uphold military readiness to safeguard national security. The 75-year-old interim leader is expected to govern for a maximum of eight months, contingent upon how quickly the court addresses the impeachment. When Will the New Government Be Established?
With Mr. Yoon’s impeachment, he is currently suspended from office, and the Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to decide his fate. In a previous instance involving former President Park Geun-hye—who was impeached for allegations of corruption and incompetence—the court took 92 days to finalize its decision. The court requires six votes from its nine-member panel to affirm the impeachment.
However, due to three vacant positions resulting from disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties, the court must either achieve unanimous agreement or fill the vacancies in the coming weeks. If the court upholds the impeachment, a snap election would be called within 60 days, and the new president would be sworn in the day after the election without a traditional transition period. Who Might Be South Korea’s Next President?
Analysts suggest that Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is the leading candidate for the presidency. Attorney and political commentator Yoo Jung-hoon noted that Lee has shown strong leadership during the recent turmoil and was instrumental in passing the impeachment motion. Lee, who rose from a challenging background as a “factory boy” and teenage school dropout, has used his inspiring life story to achieve political prominence.
He narrowly lost to Mr. Yoon in the 2022 election by a mere 0.7 percent, marking the closest margin in South Korea’s electoral history. However, his presidential ambitions have been complicated by past scandals, including a court ruling that found him guilty of election law violations, which resulted in a suspended sentence.
Should the ruling be upheld, it would disqualify him from running for office. Potential contenders from Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party include party leader Han Dong-hoon and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.
