Seoul, South Korea – The Constitutional Court of South Korea revoked on Monday the dismissal of the prime minister have duck-sano, restoring official number 2 of the nation as an interim leader, without deciding even more about the separated accusation of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Many observers said that Monday’s ruling does not indicate much about the next verdict about Yoon, since Han was not a key figure in the imposition of Yoon’s martial law. But Yoon’s firm supporters could still be emboldened and increase their political offensive in the opposition.
Han became an interim president after Yoon, a conservative, was accused by the National Liberal Assembly controlled by the opposition during his imposition of Martial Law on December 3 that triggered a massive political crisis. But Han was also accused by the Assembly at the end of December after the political struggle with opposition legislators.
Successive unprecedented judgments that suspended the two main officials in the country intensified a national division and deepened concerns about the country’s diplomatic and economic activities. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Choi Sang-Mok, had served as an interim president.
On Monday, seven of the eight judges of the court revoked or dismissed the accusation of Han. They decided that the accusations against them were not against the law or were not serious enough to get him out of the position or his motion of dismissal did not even comply with a required quorum when the assembly passed completely. A judge confirmed the accusation of Han.
Disient Han would have needed the support of at least six judicial judges.
After their return, they have told journalists that it would focus on the “most urgent issues”, including a global commercial environment that changes rapidly, in an apparent reference to the aggressive commercial policies of the Trump administration. He also asked for a national unit, saying: “There is no left or right, what matters is the advance of our nation.”
The court still does not have to govern about Yoon’s accusation. If the court defends Yoon’s accusation, South Korea must hold an election for a new president. If he governs him, Yoon will be restored to charge and recover his presidential powers.
Yoon was accused about two weeks before Han. The observers predicted previously that the Constitutional Court would rule on Yoon’s case in mid -March, but has not done so.
Yoon has been arrested separately and accused of rebellion in relation to its martial law decree. If he is convicted of that position, he would face the death penalty or a life imprisonment. On March 8, Yoon was released from prison, after a Seoul district court allowed him to endure his criminal trial without being arrested.
Mass rival rallies that support Yoon or denouncing Yoon have divided the streets of Seoul and other important cities of South Korea. The previous surveys showed that most South Koreans criticized the promulgation of Yoon’s martial law, but those who support or sympathize with Yoon have then gained strength.
In the Yoon Dispute Center is the reason he sent hundreds of troops and police to the assembly after declaring the martial law. Yoon says that his goal is to maintain order, but the senior military and police officers sent there have said that Yoon ordered them to drag the legislators to avoid a vote on the floor to revoke their decree. Enough legislators finally managed to enter an assembly room and voted unanimously.
Han, a career diplomat who was appointed by Yoon, had tried to reassure diplomatic partners and stabilize the markets, when he served as an interim president. A great trigger for the impulse of the opposition for its political trial was the refusal to fill three vacancies in the Bank of the Constitutional Court of nine members.
Restoring the complete membership of the court was sensitive because a ruling that defends Yoon’s accusation requires the support of at least six judges.
Han, Choi Sang-Mok, appointed two new judges, but left the ninth vacant seat.
Both Han and Choi cited the need for bipartisan consent to add judges to the Court, but their critics suspected that they were on the side of the People of Yoon power party, which wanted to increase Yoon’s possibilities to return to power. On Friday, the main democratic party of the liberal opposition and other small opposition parties presented a motion of political trial about Choi.
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Associated Press’s writer Kim Tong-Hyung contributed to this report.
