South Korea’s Constitutional Court reinstated prime minister Han Duck Soo as the acting president after overturning his impeachment on Monday.
Mr Han had taken over as the acting leader from president Yoon Suk Yeol after he was impeached over his short-lived declaration of martial law last December, which plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy into a political crisis.
Mr Han initially lasted less than two weeks in the post before being impeached and suspended on 27 December after clashing with the opposition-led parliament over his alleged involvement in martial law and refusal to appoint more justices to the Constitutional Court.
Following his reinstatement, Mr Han thanked the court for what he called a “wise” decision. “We will work together to prepare and implement responses to global changes, and to ensure that South Korea continues to develop well in the era of great geopolitical transformation,” he told reporters.
The acting leader added that he would focus on the “most urgent matters”, including a fast-changing global trade environment, in an apparent reference to the Donald Trump administration’s aggressive tariffs policy.
Five of the eight justices at the Constitutional Court said the impeachment motion was valid, but there were not enough grounds to impeach Mr Han as he did not violate the constitution or the law.
Two justices ruled that the impeachment motion against Mr Han, who was acting president at the time, was invalid from the start as two-thirds of lawmakers in parliament did not pass it. One justice upheld his impeachment.
The 75-year-old prime minister had served in leadership positions for more than three decades under five presidents, both conservative and liberal. Mr Han had been seen as a rare example of an official whose varied career transcended party lines in a nation sharply divided by partisan rhetoric.
Mr Han attended the only hearing in the case on 19 February, where he denied any role in the martial law episode and called for the court to dismiss the impeachment.
The country’s first martial law decree in nearly 40 years ended just after six hours on 3 December when the National Assembly voted to withdraw it. Members of the assembly jumped over fences and broke through lines of armed soldiers who were preventing lawmakers from entering the building.
The court has yet to rule on Mr Yoon’s impeachment, who remains suspended from his duties under insurrection charges. If the court upholds Mr Yoon’s impeachment, South Korea must hold a presidential election. If it rules for him, he will be restored to office and regain his presidential powers.
“Today’s verdict will give hope to Yoon’s supporters for a similar fate and hope for Yoon’s opponents for his ouster,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. “But it’s too soon to predict the court’s verdict on Yoon because the specific details of both cases and allegations are different,” she told the Associated Press.
Ms Kim said the the reinstatement of Han, a career bureaucrat, will bring more stability to South Korea compared to when his powers as acting president were suspended.
Earlier this month, Mr Yoon left a detention centre in capital Seoul after prosecutors decided not to appeal a court decision to cancel his arrest warrant. Mr Yoon, the first South Korean president to be arrested while in office, was taken into custody on 15 January on charges of rebellion in connection with his martial law decree, a charge that carries the death penalty or a life sentence if he is convicted.
