THE nation’s main opposition party has threatened to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo if he fails to proclaim a law to launch a special counsel investigation into President Yoon Suk-yeol’s failed bid to impose martial law.
Prime Minister Han has taken over from the suspended Yoon, who was impeached on Dec 14 and faces a Constitutional Court review on whether to oust him.
With a majority in parliament, the opposition Democratic Party passed a Bill this month to appoint a special counsel to pursue charges of insurrection, among others, against the conservative Yoon and to investigate his wife over a luxury bag scandal and other allegations.
The party, which has accused Han of aiding Yoon’s martial law attempt and reported him to police, said it would “immediately initiate impeachment proceedings” against the acting president if the legislation was not promulgated by today.
“The delays show that the prime minister has no intention of complying with the constitution, and it is tantamount to admitting that he is acting as a proxy for the insurgent,” Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae told a party meeting yesterday, referring to Yoon.
Han is a technocrat who has held leadership roles in South Korean politics for 30 years under conservative and liberal presidents. Yoon appointed him prime minister in 2022.
Han previously said he had tried to block Yoon’s martial law declaration, but apologised for failing to do so.
Park also accused Yoon of hampering the Constitutional Court trial by repeatedly refusing to accept court documents.
“Any delay in the investigation and impeachment trials is an extension of the insurrection and an act of plotting a second one,” Park said.
Meanwhile, Yoon refused a summons for questioning for the second time, an investigation team said yesterday, after he snubbed a previous one last week.
The anti-corruption body investigating Yoon’s short-lived martial law declaration said it had sent the summons to his office and residence.
But “the postal system shows the presidential office had ‘rejected the receiving’ of the summons”, the investigators said.
The summons sent electronically also returned a status of “unidentifiable”, making it unclear whether Yoon had received it.
The investigators had called on Yoon to appear for questioning tomorrow on Christmas Day.
Local media reported that the holiday was chosen to accommodate Yoon, as traffic and crowds would likely be lighter.
If Yoon appears, he would become the first sitting South Korean president to face questioning by an investigative agency.If he fails to appear, the Corruption Investigation Office could seek an arrest warrant to compel him to appear. — Reuters/AFP
