South Korea’s five opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Korea, submitted a motion to impeach Acting President Choi Sang-mok over his refusal to appoint a Constitutional Court judge. The move comes three months after the main opposition party impeached Prime Minister Han Duck-soo after he stepped in as acting president when President Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached for his short-lived martial law bid.
Another impeachment motion, during a period of escalating global trade tensions, will likely pull the country into further political turmoil.
The impeachment motion was submitted to the National Assembly with the support of 188 lawmakers at 2 p.m. The Democratic Party cited Choi’s refusal to appoint Ma Eun-hyeok, a nominee backed by the Democratic Party, as a Constitutional Court judge, despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling that failing to do so violated the National Assembly’s right to form the court. Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung criticized Choi for defying the court’s ruling for three weeks and warned Choi to “watch himself.”
The party also added Choi’s not requesting a recommendation for a permanent special counsel prosecutor in charge of investigating Yoon’s alleged insurrection charges related to the martial law incident and his holding off on the appointment of Supreme Court justice nominee Ma Yong-joo as reasons for raising the impeachment motion.
Kweon Seong-dong, floor leader of the ruling People Power Party, criticized the move as a retaliatory measure lacking justification. “The opposition is intent on impeaching Choi even though Prime Minister Han is likely to return as acting president after the Constitutional Court’s impeachment ruling on March 24,” said Kweon. “The opposition is targeting economy minister Choi, who’s in charge of the country’s economic policy, just as Han, the diplomatic control tower, returns to office when global trade wars are escalating.” He added, “They’re attempting to paralyze the administration.”
Since Yoon took office in 2022, the Democratic Party has filed 30 impeachment motions. Of these, 13 passed the National Assembly and were forwarded to the Constitutional Court for review. Eight have been dismissed so far.
Critics argue that the Democratic Party has been abusing the impeachment process to oust top government figures that do not align with its political agenda.
