On Friday, December 27, the South Korean National Assembly passed the impeachment of the acting President of South Korea, Han Deok-soo, who is serving as the acting president with the authority of the Prime Minister. This marks the first impeachment of an acting president in South Korean constitutional history.
Han Deok-soo rejected the appointment of a judge candidate for the Constitutional Court on Thursday, December 26. In response, the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, submitted a motion in the parliament on the same day to impeach Han Deok-soo. Han Deok-soo delivered an emergency statement in the afternoon, stating that he would temporarily postpone the appointment of Constitutional Court judges until consensus was reached through consultation between the ruling and opposition parties.
In the afternoon on Friday, the South Korean National Assembly held a plenary session, which was chaotic.
The Speaker of the South Korean National Assembly, Woo Won-sik, announced that a simple majority of 151 votes was needed to pass the impeachment bill. Subsequently, members of the ruling party, the Liberty Korea Party, protested.
This means that unlike the 200 votes required for the impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol, this impeachment did not necessitate any defections from ruling party members.
Members of the ruling party gathered in the center of the chamber, shouting “invalid vote” and “abuse of power,” and called for the Speaker to step down.
The majority of them boycotted the vote.
Ultimately, out of the 300 sitting members, a total of 192 parliamentarians participated in the vote, and the impeachment motion was passed with 192 votes in favor.
After receiving the “Impeachment Resolution” from the National Assembly, Han Deok-soo will be immediately suspended from the duties of acting president, with Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mook assuming the powers of the president and the prime minister.
According to the Constitution, the South Korean Constitutional Court must make a ruling on the impeachment case within 180 days from the day it receives the impeachment resolution.
In the afternoon on Friday, the South Korean Constitutional Court also held the first pre-trial hearing for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment case, initiating the trial process for the case.
The meeting that day was presided over by the two appointed judges of the court, Chung Hyung-shik and Lee Mi-sun, with Chung Hyung-shik serving as the presiding judge for this case.
Tensions were high as members of the impeachment panel, Chief of the National Assembly’s Legal Affairs Judiciary Committee, Chung Seong-rae, and the legal representatives of Yoon Suk-yeol attended the meeting.