The impeachment of South Korea’s acting President, Han Dak-soo, on Friday plunged the country into further political turmoil, less than two weeks after lawmakers impeached President Yeon Suk-yul.
The successive dismissals that led to the suspension of two of the country’s top officials were unprecedented, and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choe Sang-mok is now South Korea’s new interim leader. Upon taking power, Choe quickly ordered the military to boost preparedness to thwart possible North Korean aggressions and asked diplomats to reassure key partners such as the United States and Japan.
“(Han’s) isolation now creates an opportunity for external threats while alienating Korea’s foreign partners from the international community,” said Doyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.
A look at the latest developments regarding the political turmoil in South Korea, which began with Yoon imposing martial law on December 3.
Why was the acting commander removed?
Prime Minister Han Dak-soo, South Korea’s No. 2 official, became acting leader after parliament impeached Yoon on December 14 over his martial law decree that brought hundreds of troops onto the streets of Seoul and harkened back to the days of the army. Ruled in the 1960-70s.
Han, a career bureaucrat, tried to reassure key diplomatic partners and stabilize markets. But he entered into a political conflict with the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which has a majority in the assembly. The main motivation behind Han’s impeachment was his refusal to accept the Democratic Party’s demand that he immediately appoint three vacant judge seats on the Constitutional Court to enhance fairness and public confidence in its ruling on Yoon’s impeachment.
Reconstitution of the nine-member full court is crucial because the court’s ruling to remove Yoon from office needs the support of at least six justices, and the full court would likely increase the odds of Yoon’s ouster. Han said he would not appoint judges without bipartisan approval, but critics suspected he was siding with Leon loyalists in the ruling People Power Party, who want to see Yoon regain power.
Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Presidential Leadership Institute, said Han lacks legitimate reasons to oppose the appointment of court judges. But he noted that the Democratic Party should not have pursued impeachment proceedings against Han so quickly.
What are the expected diplomatic ramifications?
Han’s ouster comes as South Korea tells the world things are back to normal following the wedding incident, which alarmed neighbors, halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets.
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Yoon’s martial law ruse baffled policymakers in the United States, Japan and Europe because he was their main diplomatic partner in confronting shared challenges including China’s aggression, North Korea’s nuclear threats and vulnerabilities in global supply chains.
South Korea is now going through an even more serious crisis of leadership and governance. Doyeon Kim said that the Democratic Party’s political maneuvering is actually putting the country’s economy and national security at serious risk. “Han had the experience and qualifications necessary to deal with security and financial crises if they arose during political uncertainty in South Korea.”
Choi Jin doubted that Acting President Choi would smoothly handle diplomacy with world leaders. He said: “We will suffer international shame and our international credibility will decline.” “Negative impacts on the economy, culture and all other sectors are likely to come quietly and widely.”
The ruling party said Han’s impeachment was “invalid” because it passed with a simple majority in the 300-member assembly, and not with a two-thirds majority as the PPP claims.
There are no specific laws on the impeachment of an acting president, and the PPP has petitioned 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 sooner.
Hahn described his dismissal as “unfortunate” but said he respected the association’s decision.
The court held the first preliminary trial in Yoon’s case on Friday. If Yoon is removed from office, a national election must be held to find his successor within 60 days. Yoon and others face separate investigations by investigative agencies over allegations of rebellion, abuse of power and other crimes related to the martial law decree.
According to opinion polls, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is the most likely candidate to win a possible presidential by-election if Yoon is ousted. But Lee has legal problems of his own, and may be barred from running for president if the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court uphold his lower court conviction for violating election law in November.
If he becomes president, his trials would stop because South Korean law grants the current president immunity from most criminal prosecution.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
