December 27, (THEWILL) – South Korean lawmakers on Friday impeached the country’s acting President, Han Duck-Soo
National Assembly Speaker, Woo Won-shik, announced the impeachment.
“I announce that Prime Minister Han Duck-soo’s impeachment motion has passed. Out of the 192 lawmakers who voted, 192 voted to impeach,” Won-shik said.
Han Duck-soo took over as acting president from President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was suspended following a parliamentary vote over his move to impose martial law on December 3.
Opposition MPs claimed in the impeachment motion that Han, who is also prime minister, was “intentionally avoiding the special investigation to probe those involved in the insurrection and has clearly stated his intention to reject the appointments of three Constitutional Court judges.” Such actions, they said, were “in violation of a public official’s duty to uphold the law… and serve the public.”
It is the second impeachment of a South Korean head of state in just two weeks and the first impeachment of an acting president.
However, Han said in a statement that he “respects the parliament’s decision” and would wait for the Constitutional Court’s subsequent decision on whether to uphold it.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok will step in as acting president in Han’s place.
Choi had pleaded with the opposition lawmakers not to go ahead with the motion.
“An impeachment motion against the acting authority is no different from an impeachment motion against the entire Cabinet. Our economy and people’s livelihoods, which are walking on thin ice in a national emergency, cannot bear the expansion of political uncertainty surrounding the acting authority”, he told a news conference with other Cabinet members earlier on Friday.
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