South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly has voted to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo, despite vehement protests by the governing party’s politicians.
The move further deepens the country’s political crisis set off by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment.
Mr Han’s impeachment means he will be stripped of the powers and duties of the president until the Constitutional Court decides whether to dismiss or reinstate him.
The court is already reviewing whether to uphold Mr Yoon’s earlier impeachment.
The impeachments of the country’s top two officials worsen its political turmoil, deepen its economic uncertainty and hurt its international image.
The single-chamber National Assembly passed Mr Han’s impeachment motion with a 192-0 vote.
Politicians with the governing People Power Party boycotted the vote and gathered around the podium where assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik was seated and shouted that the vote was “invalid” and demanded Mr Woo’s resignation.
No violence or injuries were reported.
The PPP politicians protested after Mr Woo called for a vote on Mr Han’s impeachment motion after announcing its passage required a simple majority in the 300-member assembly, not a two-thirds majority as claimed by the PPP.
Most South Korean officials can be impeached by the National Assembly with a simple majority vote, but a president’s impeachment needs the support of two-thirds.
There are no specific laws on the impeachment of an acting president.
Mr Han’s powers will be officially suspended when copies of his impeachment document are delivered to him and the Constitutional Court. The deputy prime minister and finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, will take over.
Mr Han, who was appointed prime minister by Mr Yoon, became acting president after Mr Yoon, a conservative, was impeached by the National Assembly about two weeks ago over his short-lived December 3 imposition of martial law.
Mr Han quickly clashed with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party as he pushed back against opposition-led efforts to fill three vacant seats on the Constitutional Court, establish an independent investigation into Mr Yoon’s martial law decree and legislate pro-farmer bills.
At the heart of the fighting is the Democratic Party’s demand that Mr Han approve the assembly’s nominations of three new Constitutional Court justices to restore its full nine-member bench ahead of its ruling on Mr Yoon’s impeachment.
That is a politically sensitive issue because a court decision to dismiss Mr Yoon as president needs support from at least six justices, and adding more justices will likely increase the prospects for Mr Yoon’s ouster.
Mr Yoon’s political allies in the governing People Power Party oppose the appointment of the three justices, saying Mr Han should not exercise the presidential authority to make the appointments while Mr Yoon has yet to be formally removed from office.
On Thursday, Mr Han said he would not appoint the justices without bipartisan consent. The Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the assembly, submitted an impeachment motion against Han and passed bills calling for the appointment of three justices.
South Korean investigative agencies are probing whether Mr Yoon committed rebellion and abuse of power with his marital law decree.
His defence minister, police chief and several other senior military commanders have already been arrested over the deployment of troops and police officers to the National Assembly, which prompted a dramatic standoff that ended when lawmakers managed to enter the chamber and voted unanimously to overrule Mr Yoon’s decree.
