South Korea’s acting president faces impeachment vote as won plunges
Al Jazeera
Main opposition Democratic Party’s bid to suspend acting leader Han Duck-soo plunges country into further uncertainty.
South Korea’s legislature is set to vote on the impeachment of its acting president as ongoing turmoil in Asia’s fourth-largest economy sent the won plunging to levels not seen since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) is pushing to impeach Han Duck-soo, the prime minister, in a vote at the National Assembly on Friday after accusing the acting president of being complicit in an attempted insurrection by suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The DP, which holds 170 seats in the 300-member legislature, submitted the impeachment motion on Thursday after Han refused to fill three judicial vacancies on the court set to adjudicate Yoon’s impeachment trial following his short-lived declaration of martial law.
Han’s People Power Party (PPP) has argued that only the elected president has the authority to appoint justices to the Constitutional Court.
At least six judges on the court must uphold Yoon’s impeachment to remove him from office.
