On December 8, 2024, in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, a demonstrator holding a cardboard with the words “Leader of the Rebel Forces” written above an image of South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol’s face appears in front of the National Assembly in Seoul. Participating in protests demanding his expulsion.
Philip Fong | AFP | Getty Images
Acting President of South Korea Han Deok Soo The president moved to reassure allies and calm financial markets on Sunday, a day after Yoon Seok Yeol It was impeached He was then suspended for attempting martial law.
According to the White House and Han’s office, Han spoke by phone with US President Joe Biden.
“South Korea will carry out its foreign and security policies without disruption, and strive to firmly maintain and develop the South Korea-US alliance,” Han said in a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
In a further attempt to stabilize the Asian nation’s leadership, the main opposition parties announced they would not seek to impeach Mr. Han for his involvement in the Dec. 3 martial law decision.
Representative Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea told reporters, “Considering that the prime minister has already been appointed as acting president and excessive impeachment could cause chaos in national governance, we should not proceed with the impeachment process.” “We have decided to do so.”
Prosecutors announced that Yoon did not appear in court Sunday morning in response to a summons for questioning. criminal investigation They agreed with the martial law decision and promised to issue new orders, Yonhap News reported.
Yun and many other senior officials could face charges including sedition, abuse of power and obstructing people’s exercise of their rights.
Prosecutors did not return calls seeking comment.
Isaac Andik, founder and owner of fashion empire Mango, died in a mountain accident on Saturday, police said.
Han, a longtime technocrat who was chosen by conservative Yun to be prime minister, was elevated to acting president based on Yun’s lawsuit under the constitution. Constitutional Court.
Demonstrators demanding Yoon’s removal braved the cold and gathered on the street outside the National Assembly building where he was impeached. Police said the crowd was about 200,000 people, Yonhap News reported.
Cho Sung-woo, 39, who lives in Seoul, said that since Mr. Han’s role is only that of acting president, “he is not actively involved in national politics, but rather has the minimum authority to run the country stably.” I want you to exercise it.”
About 8.5 kilometers (5 miles) away in central Seoul, a far smaller number of Yoon’s supporters demonstrated.
Im Jun-sook (55) said, “It’s really unbearable to see illegal legislators who were elected through fraudulent elections enacting bad laws, and now this huge opposition party is running on its own.”
North Korea threat
Yun’s sudden declaration of martial law and the aftermath political crisis It surprised markets and South Korea’s diplomatic partners, who were concerned about South Korea’s ability to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
According to Han’s office, Biden told Han that the ironclad US-South Korea alliance will remain intact and that the US intends to work with South Korea to further develop and strengthen the alliance and trilateral cooperation, including with neighboring Japan. he said.
The White House said in a statement that the US president “expressed his gratitude for the resilience of South Korea’s democracy and rule of law,” using the abbreviation for the country’s official name, the Republic of Korea.
Immediately after Saturday’s impeachment vote, Mr. Han convened his cabinet and the National Security Council and vowed to maintain military preparedness to prevent violations of national security.
Yonhap News reported from Han’s official residence that he spoke by phone with the commander of the US Forces in South Korea and expressed concern about the possibility that North Korea might attempt military provocations such as ballistic missile launches or cyber attacks. did.
Philip Turner, a former New Zealand ambassador to South Korea, said South Korea’s partners wanted a credible constitutional interim leadership to be established as soon as possible.
“They will be happy to see Prime Minister Han become acting president,” he said. “He is competent, experienced and respected with foreign capital.”
But even if an acting president is sworn in, international partners face months of uncertainty until a new president is elected and a new government is formed, Turner added.
The Constitutional Court has given up to six months to decide whether to dismiss or reinstate Yoon. If he is removed from office or resigns, new elections will be held within 60 days.
economic impact
South Korean stocks rose for the fourth consecutive session on Friday on hopes that political uncertainty would ease after the impeachment vote in Congress was rejected a week ago.
Representative Lee of the Democratic Party of Japan said that the most pressing issue is slumping consumption due to a lack of domestic demand and a reduction in the government’s fiscal role.
He called for the establishment of a National Stability and Governance Council made up of the government and parliament to discuss finances, the economy and people’s lives.
“We need to discuss the supplementary budget quickly,” Lee said, adding that such measures could support small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as investments in artificial intelligence and infrastructure to avoid energy shortages.
The parliament led by Mr. Lee’s party on Tuesday cut 677.4 trillion won from the government’s proposal by a total of 673.3 trillion won ($470.6 billion) without reaching an agreement between Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party and the government. The 2025 budget bill was approved.
By law, Congress cannot increase the government’s budget, and Democrats said at the time that a supplementary budget might be needed to address public spending.
The party said most of the cuts were in government reserves, interest and funds for secret operations allocated to the presidential office, prosecutors and auditors. The government accused Congress of slowing down projects for small businesses due to the cuts.
The impasse over the budget issue was cited by Yun as one of the reasons justifying the imposition of martial law.
South Korea’s financial authorities vowed on Sunday to act as necessary. stabilize the market Meanwhile, the finance minister said he would release an economic policy plan by the end of the year.
