A majority in South Korea’s parliament has voted to impeach interim President Han Duck-soo, as ongoing turmoil in Asia’s fourth-largest economy has sent the currency plunging to levels not seen since the global financial crisis from 2007-2009.
A total of 192 lawmakers out of the 300-member parliament voted Friday to impeach Han, while ruling party politicians boycotted the vote.
Prime Minister Han has been acting president since President Yoon Suk-yeol was removed from office on Dec. 14 due to the short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, and his presidential powers were suspended.
After Han’s removal on Friday, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok is next in line to assume the interim presidency, in accordance with South Korean law.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP), which controls parliament and holds 170 seats, decided to impeach Han after he failed to immediately appoint three judges to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court .
The DP-controlled parliament backed three candidates on Thursday, but Han said he would not formally nominate them unless there was bipartisan agreement on the nominations.
There has been disagreement between the ruling and opposition parties and some constitutional scholars over whether a simple majority or a two-thirds vote is needed to remove the interim president.
However, the President of Parliament Woo Won-shikwhich belongs to the PD, said only a simple majority was needed to remove Han.
Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Seoul, said there were “remarkable scenes” in the country’s parliament as politicians from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) angrily protested the impeachment .
“They are calling the decision null and void and telling Han… to ignore the decision,” McBride said.
“We have been in uncharted constitutional waters for some time here in South Korea, and no one here is really guessing what will happen next.”
Han said in a statement after the vote that he would step down to avoid further chaos and would await a decision from the Constitutional Court on his dismissal.
“Walking on thin ice”
At least six Constitutional Court judges must uphold Yoon’s indictment to remove him from office.
The court currently has only six judges after the retirement of three judges earlier this year, meaning the bench would have to issue a unanimous decision to remove Yoon from the presidency.
Yoon, who has defended his declaration of martial law as legal and aimed at fighting “anti-state forces”, is also under criminal investigation on suspicion of insurrection and abuse of power.
Han’s impeachment attempt, less than two weeks after he took office following Yoon’s ouster, plunges South Korea into even greater political uncertainty as the country still reels from the executive order. Yoon martial law on December 4.
Although a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly is required to remove a sitting president, there is no consensus on whether the same threshold applies to an interim leader.
The PPP has argued that two-thirds of lawmakers must approve Han’s impeachment.
DP says it can be suspended if 151 politicians support impeachment since the constitution provides for the removal of cabinet members by a simple majority vote.
With the PD, smaller opposition parties and independents holding 192 seats, at least eight PPP MPs would have needed to cross the aisle to reach the two-thirds threshold.
Choi warned Friday that Han’s impeachment would deal a serious blow to the country’s economic situation and urged the opposition to reconsider his candidacy.
“The economy and people’s livelihoods are treading on ice under a national state of emergency, and they cannot cope with the greater political uncertainty that would result from the arrival of another president by interim president,” Choi said.
The South Korean won fell sharply against the US dollar on Friday, falling below 1,480 won for the first time since March 2009.