The opposition in South Korea announced on Tuesday that it will postpone until later this week a decision to remove interim President Han Duck-soo from office.
In response to Han’s unwillingness to enact special legislation to look into his ousted predecessor, the opposition Democratic Party had already announced that it would file an impeachment motion against him on Tuesday.
“We have decided to exercise patience, taking into account the sentiments of the people, and wait until the 26th (Thursday) to determine whether our demands are met,” floor leader Park Chan-dae said.
The party first set Christmas Eve as the deadline for Han to introduce two special legislation looking into claims of graft against his wife, Kim Keon Hee, and suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief martial law imposition.
Parliament removed the conservative leader from office on December 14 after he briefly imposed martial law 11 days prior, causing the nation to experience its worst political crisis in decades.
Yoon is currently awaiting the Constitutional Court’s ruling, as the impeachment motion needs six votes from its nine-member court to be approved. Three seats are available for appointment at this time.At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, however, Han, who took Yoon’s place, rejected the opposition’s proposal and insisted on bipartisan agreements on the two bills.
Han’s stance “left us no other option but to interpret it as his intention to continue the insurrection by delaying proceedings”, Park told a press briefing earlier.
Yoon is currently under investigation by a joint team comprising police, the defence ministry, and anti-corruption investigators.
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