South Korean leaders seek calm after Yoon is impeached

South Korea's Opposition leader offers to cooperate with government amid political turmoil and impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

South Korea’s Opposition leader offered on Sunday (December 15, 2024) to work with the government to ease the political tumult as officials sought to reassure allies and markets, a day after the Opposition-controlled Parliament voted to impeach conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol over a short-lived attempt to impose martial law.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, whose party holds a majority in the National Assembly, urged the constitutional court to rule swiftly on Mr. Yoon’s impeachment and proposed a special council for cooperation between the government and Parliament.

Mr. Yoon’s powers have been suspended until the court decides whether to remove him from office or reinstate him. If Mr. Yoon is dismissed, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.

Mr. Lee, who has led a fierce political offensive against Mr. Yoon’s embattled government, is seen as the frontrunner to replace him.

He told a televised news conference that a swift court ruling would be the only way to “minimise national confusion and the suffering of people.”

The court will meet to begin considering the case on Monday (December 16, 2024), and has up to 180 days to rule. But observers say that a court ruling could come faster. In the case of Parliamentary impeachments of past Presidents — Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 and Park Geun-hye in 2016, the court spent 63 days and 91 days respectively before determining to reinstate Roh and dismiss Mr. Park.

Mr. Lee also proposed a national council where the government and the National Assembly would work together to stabilise state affairs, and said his party won’t seek to impeach the Prime Minister, a Mr. Yoon appointee who’s now serving as acting President.