South Korea's opposition moves to impeach acting President Han

NEWS WIRES

26 December 2024 at 1:25 am·1-min read

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, South Korea's acting president, delivers an address to the nation in Seoul on December 14, 2024.

South Korea's main opposition party said it introduced a bill to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo on Thursday and would hold a vote on Friday, a move that could deepen the country's constitutional crisis triggered by a short-lived martial law.

South Korea's opposition said Thursday it filed an impeachment motion against acting president Han Duck-soo, after he refused to appoint Constitutional Court judges to complete the process of removing his predecessor from office.

South Korea fell in a political crisis when President Yoon Suk Yeol, currently suspended, declared martial law on December 3.

Yoon was stripped of his duties by parliament on December 14 over the action, but a constitutional court ruling upholding the decision by lawmakers is necessary to complete the impeachment process.

But Han has refused to approve the appointments of three judge nominees to fill the nine-member bench of the Constitutional Court – essentially holding up the procedure to remove Yoon.

The opposition Democratic Party is therefore now pushing to impeach Han too.

"We will put it to a vote tomorrow."

In Han's place, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok would step in as acting president.

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