The South Korean Constitutional Court rejected the motion of dismissal against Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo, a new episode of instability caused by the failed attempt by President Yoon Suk-Yeol to impose martial law on Monday 24 March to impose martial law.
While the verdict on a possible dismissal of Yoon Suk-Yeol is expected in the coming days, Han Duck-Soo thus resumes his post and recovers the burden of interim president. He had been suspended by the deputies three months ago, after a first interim of less than two weeks.
“The Constitutional Court has decided to reject the procedure against Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo” to five votes against one, stated the jurisdiction in a press release, whose judgment is final. Her actions, she explained, “cannot be considered as a betrayal of the confidence of the people”. “I salute the wise decision of the judges, reacted before the Han Duck-Soo press. I think that all citizens are clearly rising against a highly polarized political sphere […] Our country’s priority is to move forward. “
South Korea has been immersed in political chaos since the coup de force of its defending president, Yoon Suk-Yeol, on the night of December 3 to 4. The former star prosecutor had declared martial law by surprise and sent the army to Parliament to try to silence it. But a sufficient number of deputies had managed to meet to quickly thwart their plans by voting unanimously the return to the civil regime. Forced by the Constitution, Yoon Suk-Yeol had to comply.
“Excessive dismissal procedures”
The National Assembly voted on December 14 a first motion of dismissal against the manager, then suspended from his functions. Then on the 27th against his first replacement, Han Duck-Soo, accused of hindering the procedures against the president. He was notably accused of having refused to appoint new judges to the Constitutional Court to occupy the vacant posts, while only six magistrates out of nine was sitting there. In this configuration, only one vote against the dismissal of Yoon Suk-Yeol would have been enough to make it fail.
“Today’s decision reaffirms that excessive dismissal procedures for the National Assembly are thoughtless and malicious political attacks,” the presidential office said in a statement.
The presidency was, until Monday, provided by a second substitute, the Minister of Finance Choi Sang-Mok, who also appointed two new judges to the Constitutional Court.
Imminent verdict for yoon suk-yol
Regarding Yoon Suk-Yeol, the experts predict a verdict of the jurisdiction in the coming days, but the precise date has not been announced. If it pronounces its final deposition, with at least six votes for, a new presidential election must be organized within 60 days. Otherwise, Yoon Suk-Yeol will be restored in his functions. During the weekend, hundreds of thousands of supporters and detractors of Yoon Suk-Yeol beat the pavement, waiting for the sentence of the judges.
The verdict on Monday “has no direct legal correlation with the pending decision” in the Yoon file, the lawyer and political commentator Yoo Jung-Hoon told AFP.
Yoon Suk -Yeol is also tried in criminal in a parallel trial for insurrection – a crime punishable by life prison or even the death penalty – after his brief taxation of martial law. Clear for weeks in his residence in Seoul, he was arrested in early January during a spectacular police operation and then placed in detention, a first in history for a reigning South Korean president, before being released on March 8 for procedural vice.