What’s next for S. Korea following president’s impeachment

SEOUL,  South Korea | Xinhua | With 204 in favor and 85 against, South Korea’s parliament on Saturday passed the second impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol, after the first impeachment motion was dropped a week earlier as the ruling party lawmakers boycotted it.

After the motion was passed, an impeachment resolution has been delivered to the President’s Office and the Constitutional Court, suspending Yoon’s duties immediately.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

After the suspension of Yoon’s duties, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will be the acting president until the Constitutional Court makes a final decision.

The court said it will hold a meeting on the president’s impeachment on Monday morning. Moon Hyung-bae, acting head of the court, said it will conduct a speedy and fair trial.

If the impeachment is upheld by the court, a snap presidential election would be held within 60 days. If the impeachment is rejected, Yoon will be reinstated as president and resume his duties.

Han said Saturday that he will make every effort for the stable running of state affairs.

However, the prime minister, along with several key members of the cabinet, were accused of involving in Yoon’s alleged insurrection.

Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, told reporters after the vote that Yoon’s impeachment is “only the first step” toward solving the aftermath of his Dec. 3 martial law declaration, vowing to push for a thorough investigation into Yoon and other “accomplices of the insurrection.”

OTHER POSSIBILITIES

It is the third presidential impeachment in the Asian country’s modern history. Former conservative President Park Geun-hye was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in 2017. Late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, however, was restored to power after impeachment in 2004.

The court has up to 180 days to deliberate such cases, but it used 63 days to reach a final decision on Park’s impeachment, and 91 days on Roh’s.

Under South Korea’s constitution, approvals from six of the nine judges of the Constitutional Court are required to oust an impeached president. Currently, the court has only six judges, which means they would have to vote unanimously to remove Yoon.

The Democratic Party, with a majority in parliament, has said it is seeking to fill the vacancies, and expects the parliament to name new judges soon.

POTENTIAL DEFENCE STRATEGY

Yoon was named by investigative agencies as a suspect on insurrection charge and became the first sitting president to be banned from leaving the country, raising a possibility for his detention.

Yoon said in a televised address after the motion was passed that he would do his best for South Korea, vowing, “I will not give up.”

In his speech on Thursday, Yoon said his martial law imposition was an act of governance to protect against the “legislative dictatorship” of the majority opposition.

Experts said it might be his defence strategy, arguing that declaring martial law was within his constitutional powers and did not constitute an illegal act or an insurrection.

He also claimed that deploying troops to the national assembly was designed to maintain order, not dissolve or paralyze it.

According to a Gallup Korea poll, Yoon’s approval rating dived 5 percentage points from a week earlier to 11 percent this week, marking the lowest since his inauguration. ■

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