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South Korea’s main opposition party said it would introduce a bill to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo on Thursday and hold a vote on Friday, a move that could deepen the country’s constitutional crisis sparked by a short-lived state of emergency.
The opposition Democratic Party threatened to impeach Han if he did not immediately appoint three judges to fill the vacancies in the Constitutional Court. Parliament voted on three candidates on Thursday, but Han has yet to officially appoint them.
The court is trying to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his declaration of a state of emergency on December 3.
“It has become clear that Prime Minister and Acting President Han Duck-soo has neither the qualifications nor the will to protect the constitution,” Democratic Party leader Park Chan-dae said in a statement.
The proposal was presented to parliament on Thursday and must be voted on within 24 to 72 hours. A number of Han’s actions have been cited as grounds for his impeachment, including his veto of a bill for a special prosecutor to investigate alleged wrongdoing by the first lady.
If Han is impeached, the finance minister will take over as president. The Democratic Party has a majority in parliament, but there is disagreement between the parties and some constitutional experts over whether a simple majority or a two-thirds majority is needed to impeach an acting president.
Yoon’s first court hearing on Friday
Han said earlier on Thursday that he would not appoint judges until the political parties agreed on the appointments, as doing so without political consensus would harm the constitutional order.
Two of the proposed candidates for the Constitutional Court approved on Thursday were nominated by the Democratic Party, and one by Han’s ruling People’s Power Party. The ruling party opposed such a breakdown of the candidates, saying that it did not agree to it.
South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday over his short-lived martial law, a historic rebuke that was hailed by a cheering crowd that described the outcome as another defiant moment in the nation’s resilient democratic journey.
Han was under pressure to make the appointments, but political parties disagreed on whether he had the authority to do so as acting president.
The court is scheduled to hold its first hearing in the trial on Friday to decide whether to remove Yoon or reinstate him.
Under the constitution, six justices must agree to remove an impeached president, meaning the current justices must vote unanimously to remove Yoon. The court said it could deliberate without the full nine-judge panel.
Repeated defiance
Yoon, who was impeached by parliament on Dec. 14 in a vote joined by some members of his center-right party, had not filed legal documents as requested by the court by Thursday, court spokesman Lee Jean said at a media briefing.
He did not respond to the latest summons for questioning in a separate criminal investigation on Wednesday. On Thursday, investigators sent him another summons to appear on December 29.
Yoon’s repeated defiance drew criticism and opposition calls for his arrest.
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Earlier on Thursday, lawyers for Yoon’s former defense minister, who is under investigation on sedition charges over the declaration of martial law, said the aim was to raise alarm over abuses of the democratic process by opposition parties.
Kim Yong-hyun was the first in a series of officials to be arrested and is likely to be the first to face indictment on charges that he was a central figure in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s December 3 surprise declaration.
