The interim head of state in South Korea, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, was in turn dismissed by MPs on Friday.
AFP
The interim head of state in South Korea, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, was in turn dismissed on Friday by deputies, a new episode in the political crisis which has shaken the country since the failed attempt by the deposed president to establish martial law.
The vote took place amid loud protests from MPs from the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP), who began chanting and raising their fists in anger.
“Of the 192 deputies who voted, 192 voted for impeachment,” announced National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik.
This is the first impeachment of an interim president after that of the titular president in South Korean history. The role of interim head of state now falls to Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok.
The head of the PPP considered that Mr. Han must “continue to direct the affairs of the state without bowing to the passage of the opposition’s dismissal motion”.
But the interim president reacted by indicating, in a press release, that he intended to “respect the decision of Parliament”.
The deputies accused him of having “actively participated in the insurrection” after his predecessor’s failed attempt to establish martial law on December 3.
They had already voted on December 14 in favor of the dismissal of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol who had imposed martial law and sent the army to Parliament at the beginning of the month, before backing down a few hours later.
The Constitutional Court must validate or invalidate Mr. Yoon’s dismissal within six months.
However, the opposition criticized Mr. Han for refusing to fill three of the nine seats on the Court, which is supposed to make a decision by a two-thirds majority on this dismissal.
In the text of the motion to impeach the interim president “intentionally obstructs the special investigation aimed at questioning those involved in the rebellion and has made clear his intention to reject the nominations of three judges of the Constitutional Court”, no filled due to the retirement of their holders.
Such actions, the motion argues, “violate the duty of every public official to uphold the law” and “serve the population.”
For the chairman of the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, “the ‘interim authority’ has transformed into an ‘insurrectional authority'”.
A sign of investors’ concerns about Asia’s fourth-largest economy: Friday morning, even before the impeachment announcement, the South Korean won plunged to its lowest level in nearly 16 years against the dollar.
Hearing at the Constitutional Court
Han Duck-soo, a 75-year-old career civil servant, argued that his status as interim president did not give him the power to make major appointments. He demanded that the choice of judges of the Constitutional Court first be the subject of an agreement between the PPP and the opposition groups.
Despite the vacancy of several seats, the Constitutional Court is scheduled to hold a first hearing on Friday on the impeachment of Yoon Suk-Yeol.
If the three vacant seats are not filled before the end of the procedure, the six remaining judges will have to rule unanimously to permanently oust Mr. Yoon from power. A single vote against dismissal would therefore mean his automatic reinstatement in office.
Mr. Han’s refusal to appoint new judges proves “that he has neither the will nor the skills to respect the Constitution,” lamented the leader of the Democratic Party deputies in the Assembly, Park Chan. dae.
Ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol, 64, is also under investigation for “rebellion”, a crime punishable by death.
The Corruption Investigation Bureau, which centralizes investigations, has already summoned the deposed president twice to question him about the events of the night of December 3 to 4, which stunned the country. But Mr. Yoon did not show up for any of these summonses.
Investigators sent him a third summons on Thursday for a hearing on Sunday morning.
(afp)
