South Korea’s opposition parties plan to submit a motion on Friday to impeach acting President Choi Sang-mok, the majority Democratic Party announced in a notice to reporters, a move expected to intensify the country’s ongoing political tensions.
The impeachment would be registered at 2:00 p.m. (0500 GMT), the notice said, though the timetable for a vote was not immediately clear.
Choi, who is the finance minister of South Korea, is leading the country in an acting capacity after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached over a short-lived martial law he declared in December.
Choi has angered opposition parties, which together have a commanding majority in parliament, by repeatedly vetoing bills and holding off appointing a Constitutional Court justice approved by the assembly.
The opposition parties have criticized Choi for his refusal to appoint a ninth justice to the Constitutional Court, a decision the court itself has deemed unconstitutional for infringing upon the National Assembly’s rights. They also accuse Choi of involvement in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief declaration of martial law on December 3, and his failure to appoint Supreme Court judge candidate Ma Yong-ju.
The court is currently reviewing Yoon’s impeachment and is expected to deliver its ruling on whether to permanently remove him from office or reinstate him.
As the wait for the court’s ruling has dragged on longer than expected, tensions between opposing parties in parliament and on the streets have intensified amid calls for and against Yoon’s ouster.
Yoon’s impeachment plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy that had been considered a thriving democracy into an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Opposition parties also impeached Prime Minister Han Duck-soo after he became acting president.
The Democratic Party has said Choi has been violating his constitutional duty by refusing to appoint the Constitutional Court judge despite a ruling by the top court that such inaction was infringing on parliament’s authority.
(With inputs from Reuters)
