South Korea’s acting President faces impeachment vote due to currency collapse. political news

An attempt to suspend Han Duk-soo, the acting leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, has thrown the country into further uncertainty.

South Korea’s legislature is set to vote on the impeachment of its acting president as the ongoing turmoil in Asia’s fourth-largest economy brings victory to a level not seen since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) is pushing to impeach Prime Minister Han Duk-soo in a vote in the National Assembly on Friday after the acting president was accused of involvement in a coup attempt by suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol .

The DP, which has 170 seats in the 300-member legislature, submitted the impeachment motion on Thursday after Han refused to fill three judicial vacancies on the court set to adjourn Yoon’s impeachment trial following a short-term declaration of martial law. Gave.

Han’s People’s Power Party (PPP) has argued that only the elected president has the authority to appoint judges to the Constitutional Court.

At least six of the court’s justices would have to uphold Yoon’s impeachment to remove him from office.

The court currently has only six judges following the retirement of three judges earlier this year, meaning the bench would have to deliver a unanimous verdict to remove Yoon from the presidency.

The court is scheduled to hold its first hearing on Yoon’s impeachment on Friday and could take six months to render its decision.

Yun, who has defended his martial law declaration as legal and aimed at tackling “anti-state forces”, is also under criminal investigation on suspicion of rebellion and abuse of power.

The bid to impeach Han less than two weeks after Yoon assumed the role following his impeachment has thrown South Korea into further political uncertainty as the country is still grappling with Yoon’s martial law decree on Dec. 4 .

While a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly is required to impeach a sitting president, there is no consensus on whether the same threshold applies to a sitting leader.

The PPP has argued that two-thirds of lawmakers should approve Han’s impeachment.

The DP argues that if 151 MPs support impeachment then they can be suspended as the Constitution has a provision to remove cabinet members by simple majority.

With the DP, smaller opposition parties and independents holding 192 seats, at least eight PPP MPs would need to cross the aisle to reach the two-thirds threshold.

If Han is impeached, Deputy Prime Minister Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok would take over the presidency.

Choi warned on Friday that impeaching Han would deal a serious blow to the country’s economic situation and urged the opposition to reconsider its bid.

“Under the state of national emergency, the economy and people’s livelihoods are operating on thin ice, and it cannot withstand any major political uncertainty that would result from another acting president becoming acting president,” Choi said. “

The South Korean won fell sharply against the US dollar on Friday and fell below 1,480 won for the first time since March 2009.