DP moves to impeach acting president

Dec 27, 2024, 11:42 am

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Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duk-soo delivers a public address at the Government Complex Seoul in Seoul on Dec. 26, 2024./ Source: Yonhap News

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

The main opposition Democratic Party plans to put an impeachment motion against Acting President Han Duk-soo for a vote during a plenary session on Friday. It has been two weeks after parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Concerns are rising that unprecedented impeachment of the acting president could lead to chaos in state affairs. If lawmakers vote for Han to be impeached, finance minister Choi Sang-mok will be next in line.

Acting President Han Duk-soo said in an emergency public address Thursday that he will not appoint justices to the Constitutional Court until the rival parties submit an agreed-upon measure. He rejected the opposition party’s demand to appoint three constitutional judges as acting president as soon as the National Assembly-recommended motion for the appointment passes the plenary session.

“Looking back on our history, not a single constitutional judge was appointed without an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties,” Han said. “This is the time when a fair trial that determines the fate and history of the country is up to the Constitutional Court,” he added, reiterating the agreement between the ruling and opposition parties.

His speech lasted for about 10 minutes without prior notice. His firm stance ahead of the start of the National Assembly’s plenary session to deal with the motion for the appointment of three candidates for the Constitutional Court is seen as his intention to not back down from opposition parties’ pressure to impeach him.

Immediately after Han’s address, the DP proposed an impeachment motion against him, and decided to put it to a vote at the plenary session on Friday.

“Han has revealed himself to an acting insurrectionist, not an acting president,” DP’s floor leader Park Chan-dae said on Thursday.

The DP outlined five reasons for the impeachment, including Han’s recommendation that President Yoon Suk-yeol veto the Marine Corps special prosecutor bill and the Kim Keon-hee special prosecutor bill. Other reasons cited include Han’s alleged involvement in convening a cabinet meeting to address procedural gaps for declaring martial law, his purported role in cooperating with former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon to transfer power after the insurrection, his failure to comply with obligations to recommend a permanent special prosecutor for investigating treason charges, and his refusal to appoint Constitutional Court justices.

The National Assembly passed motions to appoint Ma Eun-hyuk, Jeong Gye-seon, and Cho Han-chang as Constitutional Court judges.

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