If the Democratic Party does yet another impeachment this would actually support Yoon’s rationale of why he tried to declare martial law. The Democratic Party is dangerously paralyzing the government for partisan political reasons:
![Acting President Choi Sang-mok leaves the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on his way to the site of the plane crash in Muan, South Jeolla, on Sunday morning. [YONHAP]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/29/1ae5ce03-860f-4d90-bb1f-6614d7fdfa8a.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Despite the growing risk that the country could be left without a government to mount effective responses to serious crises, hard-liners in the liberal Democratic Party (DP) have suggested impeaching more ministers to neutralize the Cabinet’s ability to stonewall legislation should Choi not cooperate with the DP-controlled National Assembly.
At least 11 members of the 21-member Cabinet must be present for the council to hold meetings, where it considers bills and issues directives. Six Cabinet-level positions are currently empty due to impeachments or resignations.
One of the DP’s reasons for impeaching Han was his refusal to immediately appoint the legislature’s three nominees for the Constitutional Court, which will decide the outcome of Yoon’s impeachment trial.
For Yoon’s impeachment to be upheld, at least six justices must agree on his removal from office.
The court must therefore be unanimous with its current six-member composition to finalize his dismissal.
In recent comments, DP Rep. Jang Kyung-tae said his party “should impeach several Cabinet members,” including Choi, if he also delays appointing more justices to the court.
You can read more at the link.
This is not too surprising of news:
The leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) said Monday he is stepping down amid growing internal strife following the National Assembly’s vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon made the announcement during a press conference after an impeachment motion against Yoon was passed 204-85 on Saturday over his botched imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.
The results showed 12 PPP lawmakers likely broke from their party line to vote in favor of impeachment. Han expressed support for Yoon’s impeachment Thursday despite his earlier calls for the president’s “orderly” exit.
You can read more at the link.
The process to complete the impeachment of President Yoon by the Constitutional Court will begin on December 27th:
This composite image features the justices of the Constitutional Court who will deliberate on a parliamentary motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol. The justices are seen arriving for work at the court in Seoul on Monday. Clockwise from top left: Cheong Hyung-sik, Moon Hyung-bae, Kim Bok-hyeong, Chung Jung-mi, Lee Mi-sun and Kim Hyung-du. (Yonhap)
The Constitutional Court of Korea announced Monday that it would prioritize President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial, setting the first preparatory hearing for Dec. 27 at 2 p.m.
Lee Jin, director general for the Constitutional Court’s Public Information Office, said in a press briefing Monday that justices Lee Mi-sun and Jeong Hyung-sik have been chosen as the two lead justices to oversee the evidence examination and arguments.
The chief justice, who leads the ruling by drafting the resolution and preparing arguments, has not been disclosed by the court. The chief justice is selected through a random draw.
But according to news reports, Jeong, who was appointed as justice by Yoon in 2023, has been designated as chief justice.
It is not mandatory for the court to reveal the chief justice, but they did in 2017 with ex-President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment case, citing the “severity of the issue.”
The court has also formed a task force comprising 10 constitutional researchers, led by a senior researcher. It added that it would also secure investigation records from the prosecutors and police in advance.
Preparations are underway to deliver a copy of an impeachment trial bill to Yoon and request his reply, the court added, though it is not compulsory for Yoon to do so.
It is highly likely that Yoon does not show up at the Dec. 27 hearing since it is a preparatory procedure. But he must attend the public hearing of his trial and participate in the oral pleading. If he fails to appear, the date needs to be reset.
You can read more at the link.
When Yoon would not voluntarily step down after the aborted martial law attempt, his impeachment was inevitable:
The National Assembly passed a motion, Saturday, to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his martial law declaration, with some lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party joining in support of his removal from office.
The impeachment motion against Yoon was put to a vote, with a total of 300 ballots cast: 204 in favor, 85 opposed, 3 abstentions, and 8 invalid votes.
You can read more at the link, but next the Constitutional Court will hold a trial to validate the impeachment. I have been saying since shortly after Yoon was elected that the Korean left would look for any reason to impeach him and he gift wrapped them a reason.
It looks like President Yoon’s days in office are coming to an end very soon now since he is now losign support from within his political party:
The leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday threw his support behind a parliamentary vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed bid to impose martial law, while calling for convening an ethics committee to discuss whether to demand Yoon leave the party.
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon made the call after Yoon defended the Dec. 3 martial law declaration as an act of governance and rejected insurrection charges against him in a public address.
“The president’s duties must be swiftly straightened out and suspended through the impeachment process,” Han told reporters at the National Assembly in western Seoul. “Our party must support impeachment as the party line.”
Han said it has become “more clear” that Yoon is unable to carry out his duties as president, adding that his address came as a surprise.
The main opposition Democratic Party is set to file a new motion to impeach Yoon later in the day, after a parliamentary impeachment vote failed Saturday as the majority of PPP lawmakers boycotted it.
Earlier in the day, Han voiced support for Yoon’s impeachment, calling on lawmakers to vote on the next impeachment motion based on their own “conviction.”
You can read more at the link.
I don’t see how President Yoon stays in power because this is clearly a hint from the PPP leader that they will join the opposition in impeachment if he doesn’t suspend his Presidential powers:
The leader of the ruling party said Friday that President Yoon Suk Yeol needs to be swiftly suspended from exercising power, revealing that Yoon ordered the arrests of prominent politicians during his aborted martial law declaration.
Han Dong-hoon of the People Power Party (PPP) said there is a possibility that the president may again take a “radical” action like the botched declaration of martial law if Yoon clings to the presidential power.
“Given the newly revealed facts, I believe it is necessary to promptly suspend President Yoon Suk Yeol from his duties to protect the Republic of Korea and its people,” Han told an emergency meeting of the party’s leadership at the National Assembly, referring to South Korea by its official name.
Han pointed out it was confirmed Thursday that Yoon had instructed Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung to detain key political figures, accusing them of being “anti-state” forces, and had even mobilized intelligence to detain them. (Yonhap)
You can read more at the link.
The Democratic Party would need to get 8 votes from President Yoon’s People Power Party to impeach him. It will be interesting to see what the PPP does because its leadership has clashed with Yoon as well. If the PPP decides to support impeachment they are essentially handing the Presidency to Lee Jae-myung and the Korean left. However if the PPP does decide to support impeachment I can’t really blame them because the martial law attempt was preposterous:
President Yoon Suk Yeol has come under growing attacks from the main opposition party to face impeachment or charges of treason, in the wake of his short-lived attempt to impose martial law that was blocked by the National Assembly. (Yonhap)
You can read more at the link, but any treason charges is going to depend on if the Constitutional Court finds that what Yoon did was Constitutional or not.
Via ROK Drop reader Korean Man comes this interesting article from Modern Diplomacy assessing that the impeachment of President Yoon next year is a possibility:
It is problematic to poke any other faults since Yoon has been running the country for a little over six months and has not had time to make any consequential decisions that could supply political ammunition against him. Blaming Yoon for the economic storm is risky as this could lead to questions about who had sowed the wind in the first place.
Technically, however, there is little to stop the Democrats from initiating the impeachment proceedings that could be announced if voted for by 200 out of 300 Members of Parliament and subsequently endorsed by the Constitutional Court. The Democrats already have 169 votes that could be beefed up to 200 by enlisting allies from other left-wing parties and Yoon’s enemies among the Conservatives like Lee Jun-seok’s faction. They have enough of their appointees in the Constitutional Court, and, as the Candlelight Vigil showed, public protests can be as effective as backdoor influence in terms of putting pressure on a public institution.
Lurking as yet another potential factor in the fray are the United States that may choose to assist in toppling President Yoon to replace him with a classic right-winger, given that the Democrats are as pro-American as the Conservatives anyway. If the United States are gearing up for a global confrontation, Washington would be better off with an amenable rather than pragmatic head of South Korean state.
Modern Diplomacy
You can read much more at the link, but it is very clear that the Democrat Party is trying to use the Itaewon crushing tragedy to attack the President with like they did the Sewol tragedy with former impeached President Park. However, they are not getting as much traction on Yoon as they hoped because his poll numbers continue to slowly rise after the tragedy. Also I am not sensing any unhappiness with President Yoon from the United States either so I don’t see any pressure on Yoon coming from that direction. As it is right now I don’t think impeachment will happen, but it is clearly the strategy I have been saying for weeks that the Democratic Party is trying to execute against President Yoon since the Itaewon crushing incident happened.
Since the Korean left controls the National Assembly the failure of this impeachment is no surprise, but the Korean right did have an opportunity to describe how Choo Mi-ae is has stopped probes into Blue House corruption:
![Rep. Bae Hyun-jin of the United Future Party explains the intent of the impeachment motion to the lawmakers before the voting on Thursday. [YONHAP]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2020/07/23/3ac51350-affe-483d-87aa-b40abb182ebf.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
On Monday, the UFP submitted a motion to impeach Choo to the National Assembly. It was signed by 110 lawmakers. All 103 lawmakers from the UFP, all three lawmakers from the People’s Party and four independent lawmakers who were formally members of the UFP co-sponsored the motion.
Although the motion was struck down, it appeared that at least two members of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) or its allies had voted to support it.
According to Rep. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the UFP, not all 110 lawmakers who sponsored the motion participated in the voting. Two UFP lawmakers and one independent lawmaker were absent. (……)“A justice minister is a servant of the people, not a specific political faction. As a servant to the people, the minister must maintain political neutrality, not abuse power of office, never submit to outside pressures and faithfully respect laws,” Rep. Bae Hyun-jin, spokeswoman of the UFP, said before the voting started. “But Choo’s actions clearly violated her duty to serve the people.”
Joong Ang Ilbo
“Shortly after she took office, she reassigned the prosecutors who were investigating corruption and abuse of power allegations against key members of the Moon Jae-in administration, without consulting the prosecutor general,” Bae said, pointing to the move as retaliation.
Bae also said Choo had illegally intervened in the prosecution probes, and such actions are in violation of the law governing the prosecution. Choo also disgraced the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution by publicly criticizing the prosecutor general, Bae said.
You can read more at the link, but I have long chronicled how Choo was specifically chosen to stop all prosecution attempts to investigate the Blue House. Choo has even promised to investigate the prosecutors who were leading the Blue House corruption probes as payback.
Just think that prior ROK President Park Geun-hye was impeached for far less than this.
