South Korea’s Yoon impeached

AFP | Seoul 

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

South Korean lawmakers have voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his shock decision to declare martial law last week, which plunged the country into some of its worst political turmoil in decades. Let us take a look at what lies ahead for the vibrant East Asian democracy.

Who is running the country?

Technocratic Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has stepped in as interim leader and will govern the country for a maximum of eight months, depending on how long the court deliberates on the impeachment motion and what it decides to do.

In his first address to the nation as acting president, Han vowed to “ensure stable governance.” “I will devote all my strength and efforts to ensure stable governance,” the 75-yearold career bureaucrat said.

How will impeachment proceed?

In its last such deliberation involving former president Park Geun-hye -- impeached by parliament over corruption and incompetence allegations -- the Constitutional Court took 92 days to review the motion and remove her from office.

The court requires six votes in favour of impeachment from its nine-member bench.

But with three seats vacant due to disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties, the court must vote unanimously to support the impeachment motion -- unless it fills the empty positions in the coming weeks.

Legal experts say it is very likely the judges will remove him given the clear constitutional violations involved in his martial law declaration.

It is clear Yoon “aimed to paralyse the state’s functions,” Kim Hyun-jung, a researcher at the Korea University Institute of Law, told AFP.

“Even the most conservative scholars acknowledge this has caused a crisis in constitutional order,” Kim said.

If the court confirms Yoon’s removal, a snap election will be held within 60 days.

And unlike in typical elections, there will be no 60-day transition period for the president-elect: the victor will be inaugurated the day after the vote.

Who might be the next president?

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is the clear frontrunner for the presidency, analysts say. “Lee has demonstrated strong leadership during the turbulent days since the martial law declaration and played a key role in passing the impeachment motion,” said attorney and political columnist Yoo Jung-hoon.

Lee, who rose from humble beginnings as a “factory boy” and a teenage school dropout supporting his family, has leveraged his rags-to-riches story to build political stardom. In the 2022 election, Lee lost to Yoon by the narrowest vote margin in South Korea’s electoral history, with a gap of around 0.7 percent.