South Korea’s opposition says it will vote to oust acting President Han

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – 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 martial law. .

The opposition Democratic Party has threatened to impeach Han if he does not immediately appoint three judges to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court. Parliament voted in favor of three nominees on Thursday, but they have yet to be formally named by Han.

The court hears the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol for his December 3 declaration of martial law.

“It has become clear that Prime Minister and Acting President Han Duck-soo does not have the qualification or the will to protect the Constitution,” Democratic Party leader Park Chan-dae said in a statement.

The motion was tabled in parliament on Thursday and must be voted on within 24-72 hours. It cited a number of actions by Han as reasons for his ouster, including his veto of a special prosecutor bill to investigate alleged wrongdoing by the first lady.

If Han is ousted, the finance minister will take over the interim presidency. The Democratic Party has majority control of parliament, but there is disagreement between the parties and some constitutional scholars over whether a simple majority or a two-thirds vote is needed to remove the acting president.

Han said earlier Thursday that he would not appoint the judges until the political parties reached an agreement on the appointments, because doing so without political consensus would harm the constitutional order.

Two of the proposed Constitutional Court appointees approved on Thursday were nominated by the Democratic Party and one by Han’s ruling People’s Power Party. The ruling party objected to this breakdown of candidates, saying it did not agree with it.

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 set 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 can deliberate without complementing the nine-member bench.

Yoon, who was impeached by parliament on Dec. 14 in a vote joined by several members of his center-right party, did not file legal documents as requested by the court on Thursday, the carrier said. word of the court, Lee Jean, in a press conference.

On Wednesday, he did not respond to the latest subpoena in a separate criminal investigation. Investigators issued another summons Thursday for him to appear on Dec. 29.

Yoon’s repeated defiance has sparked criticism and calls from the opposition for his arrest.

Earlier on Thursday, lawyers for former defense minister Yoon, who is being investigated on sedition charges over the martial law declaration, said it was aimed at raising the alarm about opposition parties’ abuse of the democratic process.

Kim Yong-hyun was the first in a series of officials to be arrested and is likely to be the first to face charges of being a central figure in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s surprise declaration of martial law on December 3.

(Reporting by Jack Kim, Ju-min Park, Joyce Lee; Editing by Jamie Freed, Alexandra Hudson)