![\"Prime](\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/3f78ecc8-c351-11ef-81d7-005056bf30b7\/w:1280\/p:16x9\/2024-12-14T115446Z_1045211719_RC2ZOBAT61MV_RTRMADP_3_SOUTHKOREA-POLITICS.JPG\")
South Korea<\/a>‘s opposition said Thursday it filed an impeachment motion against acting president Han Duck-soo, after he refused to appoint Constitutional Court judges to complete the process of removing his predecessor<\/a> from office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Korea fell in a political crisis when President Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a>, currently suspended, declared martial law<\/a> on December 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yoon was stripped of his duties<\/a> by parliament on December 14 over the action, but a constitutional court ruling upholding the decision by lawmakers is necessary to complete the impeachment process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Han has refused to approve the appointments of three judge nominees to fill the nine-member bench of the Constitutional Court \u2013 essentially holding up the procedure to remove Yoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The opposition Democratic Party is therefore now pushing to impeach Han too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We have filed the motion… and will report it to the plenary session today,” MP Park Sung-joon told reporters at the National Assembly of the action against Han.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We will put it to a vote tomorrow.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Han’s refusal to formally appoint the three judges proves that he “does not have the will or qualification to uphold the Constitution,” the Democratic Party’s floor leader Park Chan-dae told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the court were to proceed with the impeachment process without the additional three judges, all six current judges would need to unanimously agree to remove Yoon from office. A single dissenting vote would reinstate Yoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Han has said that he would certify the judges’ appointments only if his ruling People Power Party and the opposition reach a compromise on the nominees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The consistent principle embedded in our Constitution and laws is to refrain from exercising significant exclusive presidential powers, including the appointment of constitutional institutions,” Han argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “A consensus between the ruling and opposition parties in the National Assembly, representing the people, must first be reached,” added the 75-year-old career bureaucrat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If the opposition passes the impeachment motion against Han in Friday’s vote, it would mark the first time democratic South Korea has impeached an acting president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Han’s place, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok would step in as acting president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (AFP)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ASIA \/ PACIFIC South Korea’s main opposition party said it introduced a bill to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo on Thursday and would hold a vote on Friday, a move that could deepen the country’s constitutional crisis triggered by a short-lived martial law. Issued on:\u00a026\/12\/2024 – France24.com By: NEWS WIRES… Continue reading