The Korean political crisis appears to have no end. It was December 3rd when the then Korean President made a television announcement Yook Suk Yeol had imposed martial law. One of the clumsiest coup attempts in recent history ensued, with army special troops trying in vain to prevent MPs from entering Parliament to vote to end martial law.
Once the coup failed, the Parliament (controlled by the opposition) voted last December 14 to impeach the President, who had been replaced by the Prime Minister Han Duk Soo. Today too Han he was however impeached, with the impeachment vote seeing 192 votes in favor and no votes against. The reason for this second impeachment, the first in Korean history against an “Acting President”, is due to the reluctance of Han Duk Soo in appointing 3 of the 9 judges of the Constitutional Court who will judge the former President Yoon. In addition to this, the deputies of the National Assembly accuse the interim President of not being totally extraneous to the events of 3 December.
To avoid worsening the political situation of the country Han he stated that he respects “the decision of the National Assembly and, in order not to add to the confusion and uncertainty, I will suspend my functions in line with the laws pending a quick and wise decision from the Constitutional Court”. The role of President interim it is now up to the Minister of Finance Choi Sang mok.
However, the situation remains tense, with the Constitutional Court still having to validate or invalidate the testimony of Yoonand a time limit of six months to issue his verdict, without forgetting that the 3 constitutional judges that the President must appoint are still missing. In the text of the impeachment motion of Han we read that the President interim “he intentionally obstructed the special investigation aimed at questioning the people involved in the rebellion and made clear his intention to reject the appointments of three judges of the Constitutional Court”, left vacant due to the retirement of their incumbents. According to the parliamentarians, such actions “violate the duty of every public official to respect the law” and “serve the population”.
The Korean political crisis has certainly played a decisive role in the weakening of the national currency, the wonwhich reached its lowest value since 2009. The markets are not doing any better, with the stock market closing down and some of the main stocks falling sharply, such as E-martthe largest chain in national markets which has just reached an agreement for a joint venture with the Chinese giant Alibaba. While the country is in crisis, the former President Yoon he has already twice refused to appear before investigators for questioning. In the next few days we will find out if there will be a third summons or if an arrest warrant will be issued against him.
