Seoul, Dec 26 (EFE).- South Korea’s main opposition party on Thursday submitted a motion to parliament on Thursday seeking the impeachment of prime minister and acting president Han Duck-soo.
The announcement by the liberal Democratic Party (DP) comes after Han said that he will not appoint justices to the Constitutional Court, as demanded by the opposition, until the DP and the ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP) reach an agreement regarding the three judges who should occupy the vacant seats on South Korea’s highest court.
«It is the consistent spirit of our Constitution and laws that the acting president refrain from exercising the vital and exclusive authority of the president, including appointments to constitutional institutions,» Han said, according to Yonhap news agency.
«In the event it is inevitable to exercise such authority, I believe it has been an unbroken custom in our constitutional history that the ruling and opposition parties first reach an agreement at the National Assembly,» he said.
Han implored the two parties to reach an agreement regarding the three candidates, since the DP, using its clear parliamentary majority as an argument, has proposed two of them, compared to one by the PPP, which insists that both parties should present one candidate each and agree on a third.
The leader of the DP parliamentary group, Park Chan-dae, told reporters Thursday that the party registered the impeachment motion after Han’s message and that, since by law motions cannot be voted on until 24 hours have passed since their parliamentary presentation, the vote is expected to take place Friday.
On Tuesday, the main opposition bloc, which holds a majority in the National Assembly (parliament), threatened to file a motion to impeach Han if he did not ratify the appointments of the three remaining justice vacancies of the nine-member bench of the Constitutional Court, which must decide by June whether to ratify the dismissal of President Yoon Suk-yeol for having declared martial law at the beginning of the month.
If the three vacancies are not filled, the six judges currently occupying seats in South Korea’s highest court must unanimously approve the dismissal of the president as by law, at least six votes are required to uphold an impeachment motion.
The DP is trying to put maximum pressure on Yoon (it has also asked Han to ratify special investigations into the president and the first lady) in order to ensure that his dismissal is finalized as soon as possible, sparking snap elections.
The PPP appears to be seeking to delay Yoon’s impeachment process as long as possible in the event that the Supreme Court may soon ratify a sentence against DP leader Lee Jae-myung for violating the electoral law. EFE
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