After the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, the Democratic Party decided whether to introduce a bill to impeach Han Dak-soo.
South Korea’s main opposition is considering a move to oust the country’s acting president, Han Dak-soo.
An opposition Democratic Party lawmaker said Tuesday that the party will wait until later this week to decide whether to introduce a bill to impeach Han, hours after party spokesman Yoon Jong-kun said the bill would be introduced today.
He added: “We decided to be patient and take people’s feelings into account and wait until the 26th [Thursday] “To determine whether our demands have been met,” said Park Chan-dae, chairman of the House of Representatives of the Democratic Party.
The opposition demanded that Han sign special bills to investigate his ousted predecessor, Yoon Suk-yul.
The country is still reeling from Yoon’s short-lived attempt to impose martial law on December 3, which he blamed in part on the opposition’s tendency to isolate government officials.
Prime Minister Han took office from Leon, who was impeached on December 14, and faces a Constitutional Court review on whether he will be ousted or his powers restored.
If an impeachment bill is introduced, it must be voted on within 24 to 72 hours after it is introduced in the plenary session of Parliament.
Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Seoul, explained that if the new accountability bill is introduced, it “could be voted on as early as Friday or Saturday.”
“If it goes ahead, the third in line is the Finance Minister, and the Deputy Prime Minister will then take charge,” McBride added. “All of this threatens to cause further instability and political vacuum,” McBride added.
With a majority in parliament, the Democratic Party initially demanded that Han approve bills calling for special prosecutors to investigate Yoon for rebellion over his martial law decree, and his wife for corruption and other allegations, by Tuesday.
But Han did not put the bills on the Cabinet’s agenda, instead calling on the ruling party and opposition parties to negotiate further.
DP floor leader Park then responded that there was no room for negotiations over Yoon’s investigation.
Park said at an earlier press conference that Han’s stance “left us with no other choice but to interpret it as his intention to continue the rebellion by delaying the proceedings,” adding that his party “will begin impeachment proceedings against Han.”
The opposition says it only needs a simple majority in the 300-member parliament to remove Han, because that is the threshold needed for a member of the government.
However, the ruling People Power Party argues that a two-thirds majority is required as Han currently serves as acting president.
Yoon is currently under investigation by a joint team that includes the police, the Ministry of Defense and anti-corruption investigators.
Yoon’s defense minister, the police chief, and several other senior military leaders had already been arrested over the deployment of troops and police officers to the National Assembly, which led to a dramatic standoff that ended when lawmakers managed to enter the chamber and voted unanimously to repeal Yoon’s decree. .
An investigation team said that Yoon on Monday refused a summons for questioning for the second time after ignoring a previous summons last week.
The Constitutional Court has up to six months to decide Yoon’s fate. If he is removed from office, national elections must be held to choose his successor within two months.
