The Republic of Korea’s (ROK) parliament voted to impeach Acting-President Han Duck-soo, on Friday, just two weeks after voting to impeach his predecessor, former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
A total of 192 lawmakers voted in favor of Duch-soo’s impeachment, following the motion’s introduction on Thursday by the main opposition party.
Korea’s principal opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the national assembly, had accused Duck-soo of allegedly taking part in Yoon’s disastrous declaration of martial law and dissolution of Parliament, which was ended when lawmakers broke into the parliament building, and then hindering investigations into the actions of the former president and his wife Keon-hee.
Duck-soo had also infuriated opposition MPs this week when he declined to name three judges to replace vacancies at the constitutional court, which would determine whether or not to approve the impeachment motion against Yeol, The Guardian reported.
According to Duck-soo, appointing justices would go beyond his authority as acting president. Lee Jae-myung, the head of the Democratic Party, responded by accusing Duck-soo of “acting for insurrection.”
Under the procedural process, a simple majority vote is required to impeach leaders including Duck-soo, the former prime minister, and other high-ranking South Korean leaders. To impeach the former president two weeks ago, the opposition parties had to garner members of Yeol’s own party to vote with them.