South Korea votes to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo
Getty Images A protest erupted in parliament as lawmakers voted to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo
South Korea has voted to impeach its acting president Han Duck-soo, two weeks after parliament voted to impeach its President Yoon Suk Yeol. A total of 192 lawmakers voted for his impeachment, more than the 151 votes needed for it to succeed. Prime minister Han took over the role after President Yoon was impeached by parliament following his failed attempt to impose martial law on 3 December. Han was supposed to lead the country out of its political turmoil, but opposition MPs argued that he was refusing demands to complete Yoon's impeachment process.
Chaos erupted in parliament as the vote was held on Friday. Lawmakers from Yoon and Han's ruling People Power Party (PPP) protested after National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik announced that only 151 votes would be needed to pass the impeachment bill. This meant that, unlike the 200 votes required for Yoon's impeachment, no votes from ruling lawmakers would be needed this time for Han to be impeached in parliament. Ruling party MPs gathered in the middle of the voting chamber chanting, "invalid!" and "abuse of power!" in response, and called for the Speaker to step down. Most of them boycotted the vote.
What just happened in South Korea?
Han will be suspended from his duties as soon as he is officially notified by parliament. The opposition first filed an impeachment motion against Han on Thursday after he blocked the appointment of three judges that parliament had chosen to oversee Yoon's case. Korea's Constitutional Court is typically made up of a nine-member bench. At least six judges must uphold Yoon's impeachment in order for the decision to be upheld. There are currently only six judges on the bench, meaning a single rejection would save Yoon from being removed. The opposition had hoped the three additional nominees would help improve the odds of Yoon getting impeached. This is the first time an acting president has been impeached since South Korea became a democracy. Finance minister Choi Sang-mok is set to replace Han as acting president. Like Yoon, Han's impeachment will need to be confirmed by the constitutional court, which has 180 days to rule on whether the impeachment should be upheld. "I respect the decision of the National Assembly," Han said Friday, adding that he "will wait for the Constitutional Court's decision." He also said that he would suspend his duties to "not add to the chaos".
loveinjune on December 27th, 2024 at 08:51 UTC »
And they are gearing up to impeach the next acting president if he doesn't approve the judges submitted by the National Assembly. It's basically we are going to keep impeaching you guys until you stop vetoing. (It's being said that the next acting president has been in support of the vetos)
In South Korea, if the president is removed, the next person in succession does not become president-- they become the acting president. There is always a lot of discussion of how much authority does the acting president have, as the purpose of the acting president is to fulfill presidential duties until the country elects the next president.
To date, no acting president has made a constitutional judge appointment while there still was a president (President Yoon is still the president until the constitutional court makes their decision). But the constitutional court requires 7 judges to make a decision on impeachment and at current there are 6 judges. However, the court says they/could/be willing to proceed with 6 judges.
Important to note that the Korean constitution states that [6] judges must agree with the impeachment, not a majority. Meaning if there are only 6 judges, all 6 judges just be in agreement.
Another issue that will now be put up against the constitutional court is whether or not the impeachment of the current acting president is valid-- to impeach a president you need 2/3 quorum (200 out of 300 votes), but to impeach a cabinet member, you only need a simple majority (151 out of 300 votes). The vote to impeach was 192 out of 300. To date, no acting president has been impeached before so it's legally unclear the requirements to impeach an acting president (veruses a prime minister, which you just need a simple majority).
Not favoring one side or the other, but just adding some context to this
curaga12 on December 27th, 2024 at 08:16 UTC »
The main reason for the impeachment was he refused to accept three Constitutional Court Justices that the National Assembly recommended following the law. Currently there are six acting Constitutional Court Justices, and it needs all six members to agree that the president is unconstitutional to hold his position. However, since one of the Justices was appointed by the current president, people are skeptical that all six members will agree with the Constitution. Hence, the National Assembly wants to add three more Justices that should've been accepted by the president to the Constitutional Court. The acting president did not want to pass that, even though it should've been done as the National Assembly has agreed to add those people like ages ago.
Edit: there is another issue with the special prosecutor for the president's wife, but the main reason is probably with the Constitutional Court Justices.
TheGoverness1998 on December 27th, 2024 at 08:01 UTC »
"You wanna see me impeach the President? You wanna see me do it again?"