Judges reject deprivation of acting President South Korea

When the Constitutional Court announces in Seoul whether President Yoon Suk-Yeol is definitively dropped off is still unclear. In the meantime, it already dealt with the deposition of his Temporary successor, Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo: On Monday, the judges ruled that he can return as acting president.

Han received that role after the Yoon Parliament suspended in mid -December due to his failed coup attempt earlier that month. But, among other things, because Han refused to confirm the appointment of new judges at the Constitutional Court, where three seats were vacant at that time, the National Assembly sent him less than two weeks later also home.

The struggle for those appointments is important: six of the nine judges of the Constitutional Court must agree to the deposition of Yoon. As long as three already nominated judges had not yet been appointed, the remaining six had to become unanimous. According to the South Korean progressive opposition, Han was complicated by his refusal to appoint the three judges to Yoons Coup. The Court did not participate in that on Monday. As a result of that ruling, Han is immediately back in office as prime minister and acting president. He went back to work immediately after announcing the verdict.

In the meantime, Hans successor as acting president, Choi Sang-Mok, had confirmed two appointments, so that the Court now has eight judges. But he also stopped the ninth appointment, so that the opposition announced a motion on Friday to also send him the avenue. Whether it is still being put to the vote is now that Han returns is unclear.

Rising tensions

The jump-off of deposition procedures signs the administrative paralysis that has made itself from South Korea since the conservative Yoon proclaimed the military emergency state on 3 December and solditors to the National Assembly dominated by the opposition sent in a vain attempt to prevent an emergency meeting. Yoon took the measure under pressure from a vote in parliament and quickly swelling street protests after a few hours. A week and a half later, the people’s representation sent Him home.

Since then, the Constitutional Court has been considering Yoons suspension. If it rejects, Yoon can return immediately as president until the end of his term in 2027. The Court of Appeal maintains Yoons deposit, then it is irrevocable and follow elections within sixty days.

A verdict was expected soon after the last session day on 25 February, but it still has not announced a date for the ruling. That delay ensures increasingly rising tensions between Yoon supporters and opponents. Since the coup attempt, both camps have been demonstrated daily, whereby it regularly comes to violence. When Yoon’s custody – who is also prosecuted – was extended in January, radical supporters of the President stormed the court in Seoul. In the past few weeks, at least two of his supporters were killed after they had set themselves on fire in protest. Also this weekend, both camps – separated by a hedge from police buses – took to the streets again in Seoul.

No-zone

According to some analysts Is that polarization the reason that the ruling is delayed: the Court of Appeal would have already made a decision, but would like to take the time to support that carefully. For example, they would hope to prevent an outburst of violence – for which many people fear.

In the vicinity of the Constitutional Court in Seoul, strict safety measures have been announced for the day of the judgment: tens of thousands of police officers are mobilized, schools and metro stations are closed, a no-flyzone is set, and access to the roofs of surrounding buildings are prohibited.

But there is also speculation that the court itself is divided. If only five of the eight current judges support Yoons deposit, they could try to hold the verdict until the last vacancy has been filled, for which a progressive judge is nominated who is expected to support Yoon. That should not take too long: in the second half of April, two other judges will retire and the Court is again incomplete.

Momentum

The delay leads to nervousness in the progressive democratic party. Although there is still a majority of South Koreans for deposition, their camp is shrinking. And while the opposition after Yoon’s coup attempt had a street length ahead in most polls, the DP and Yoons conservative PPP are now neck.

Moreover, DP leader Lee Jae-Myung, by far the favorite of interim presidential elections, is involved in a criminal case regarding violation of the Electoral Act. He was sentenced to a conditional prison sentence, but appealed. If the verdict is maintained, Lee may not participate in the elections that would follow on Yoons deposit. A decision in the case is expected on Wednesday.

Political paralysis could hardly come at a worse moment. In the White House a few weeks after Yoons suspension Donald Trump returned as president. Those alleged During his campaign, he wanted to have South Korea pay more for the more than 28,000 American soldiers stationed in the country to protect it against North Korea. He also threatens South Korea with substantial import duties, and may want to negotiate with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un just like in his first term outside the government in Seoul.

For South Korea, economically dependent on exports, Trumps on steel and aluminum levels are a major threat, and that is all the stronger for import duties on cars, which Washington is expected to announce in April. Cars are the most important export product from South Korea to the US.

But since Trumps took office, no one in the South Korean government has had direct contact with the US president. Perhaps the fluent English -speaking Han, who was previously an ambassador in Washington and was partly at the cradle of a free trade agreement with the US, change that.

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