The impeachment of South Korea incumbent president Han Duck-soo Friday plunged the country into further political unrest, less than two weeks later Lawmakers have impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The successive Impeachment proceedings that the country’s two most senior officials have been suspended is unprecedented, and the Deputy Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, Choi Sang-mokis now South Korea’s new interim leader. After taking power, Choi immediately ordered the military to increase its readiness to deter potential North Korean aggression and urged diplomats to reassure key partners such as the United States and Japan.
“(Han’s) impeachment now creates an opportunity for external threats while simultaneously causing Korea’s foreign partners to alienate it from the global community,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.
A look at the latest developments in South Korea’s political turmoil, which began with Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3rd.
Why was the incumbent leader indicted?
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the second-largest official in South Korea, became acting leader after the assembly impeached Yoon on Dec. 14 over his martial law decree, which brought hundreds of troops onto the streets of Seoul and recalled the days of military rule in the 1960s and 1970s.
Han, a career bureaucrat, tried to reassure key diplomatic partners and stabilize markets. However, he was embroiled in a political dispute with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in the assembly. A key trigger for Han’s removal from office was his refusal to comply with a DP demand to immediately appoint three vacant judge seats on the Constitutional Court in order to strengthen justice and public trust in the decision on Yoon’s removal from office.
Restoring the court’s full nine-member panel is crucial because a court ruling to remove Yoon from office requires the support of at least six justices and a full complement is likely to increase the prospects of Yoon’s ouster. Han said he would not appoint the judges without the approval of both parties, but critics suspect he is siding with Yoon’s loyalists in the ruling People Power Party (PPP) who want to see Yoon return to power.
Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Institute of Presidential Leadership, said Han lacked legitimate reasons to oppose the judges’ appointments. But he pointed out that DP should not have rushed ahead with Hans’s impeachment.
What diplomatic consequences can be expected?
Han’s ouster came as South Korea told the world that things had returned to normality after the marriage law incident that sparked concerns among neighbors, stalled high-level diplomacy and rocked financial markets.
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Yoon’s martial law ploy puzzled policymakers in the United States, Japan and Europe as he was their key diplomatic partner in tackling shared challenges, including China’s assertiveness, North Korean nuclear threats and vulnerabilities in global supply chains.
“South Korea is currently experiencing a far more serious leadership and governance crisis. “The DP’s political move actually endangers the country’s economy and national security,” Duyeon Kim said. “Han had the experience and qualifications to handle both security and financial crises as they arise during South Korea’s political uncertainty.”
Choi Jin doubted that incumbent leader Choi would smoothly engage in diplomatic dealings with world leaders. “We will suffer international disgrace and our international credibility will decline,” he said. “Negative impacts on the economy, culture and all other sectors are likely to occur quietly and across the board.”
The ruling party argued that Han’s impeachment was “invalid” because it was passed by a simple majority in the 300-member assembly, rather than a two-thirds majority as claimed by the PPP.
There are no specific laws regarding the impeachment of a sitting president, and the PPP filed a petition with the Constitutional Court to review the vote.
It is not clear when the court will rule on this request. The Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to decide whether to uphold the impeachment of both Yoon and Han, although their decisions are expected to come sooner.
Han called his ouster “regrettable” but said he respected the assembly’s decision.
The court had its first preliminary hearing on Yoon’s case on Friday. If Yoon is ousted from office, a nationwide election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days. Yoon and others are being investigated separately by the investigative authorities because they are accused of committing rebellion, abuse of power and other crimes in connection with the martial law decree.
Polls show Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung as a clear favorite to win a possible presidential by-election if Yoon is ousted. But Lee has legal problems of his own and could potentially be barred from running for president if the appeals and Supreme Court upholds his lower court conviction for violating election law in November.
If he becomes president, his trials would be dropped because South Korean law grants a sitting president immunity from most criminal prosecutions.
&Copy 2024 The Canadian Press
