A motion to impeach former-acting President Choi Sang-mok was reported at the National Assembly on Wednesday, in the latest move by the main opposition party to hold top officials in the Yoon Suk Yeol administration to account.
This would put the fate of Choi, who is also Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, in the hands of the opposition-led National Assembly, which may propose to vote on an impeachment motion against him by no later than Friday afternoon. The main opposition party has accused Choi of failing to fulfill his duty as acting president to appoint the ninth Constitutional Court justice, and causing a delay in the Yoon impeachment ruling.
Since the weekend, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea has renewed its bid to pass impeachment motions against the two acting presidents who succeeded Yoon following his Dec. 14 impeachment and suspension for declaring martial law the night of Dec. 3.
The parliament had previously passed an impeachment motion against Prime Minister and acting President Han Duck-soo on Dec. 27, and now seeks to impeach Choi, who had filled in for Han while the latter was suspended.
Rep. Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said the acting presidents obstructed the impeachment trial process by failing to comply with the Constitutional Court's ruling — that it is their duty to appoint court justices selected by the National Assembly — and "must be held accountable for the failure to fulfill their constitutional duty."
The Democratic Party, however, is likely to wait until the Constitutional Court finalizes its decision over Yoon's impeachment Friday morning, Rep. Hwang Jung-a of the party told reporters.
This news comes as lawmakers of the five opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, jointly filed a motion to impeach Choi on March 21, due to his failure to appoint the ninth Constitutional Justice, despite appointing one left-leaning justice and another right-leaning justice selected by the National Assembly. The Democratic Party holds enough seats to pass on its own impeachment motion against a public official.
Choi assumed the role of acting president from Dec. 31 until March 24. Prime Minister Han was reinstated on March 24, the same day the impeachment motion against him was voted down in a majority decision by the Constitutional Court.
Under the National Assembly Act, an impeachment motion must be reported at the first plenary session following its submission. A vote must then take place within 24 to 72 hours. This means that if the vote occurs before Friday afternoon, Choi could be suspended from his positions.
If not, the motion may either be sent to the parliament’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee for further review or be dismissed altogether.
The Democratic Party's leadership has not elaborated what explicit potential legislative action it could take against Han for failing to appoint the ninth justice, despite earlier warnings that the party would hold him accountable if he did not complete the appointment by Tuesday.
Park of the Democratic Party insisted Wednesday that if either Han or Choi had appointed left-leaning judge Ma Eun-hyuk as the final Constitutional Court justice to fill the bench, it “would have concluded Yoon’s impeachment case a long time ago.”
In February, the Constitutional Court acknowledged that an acting president has a duty to name a ninth justice to the court, which would otherwise violate the legislature's rights.
The parliament passed a resolution demanding Han appoint Ma Wednesday. Regardless of Han's appointment of Ma, the Yoon verdict will be handed down by the eight-member bench of the Constitutional Court Friday.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
