South Korea ruling party stalls court appointments for Yoon ruling

Sam Kim, Bloomberg News on Dec 17, 2024

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South Korea’s ruling party is trying to delay the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Court in a move likely aimed at preventing the opposition from boosting the chances of ousting impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The law requires a minimum of six judges to confirm Yoon’s removal. Currently there are six judges in place with three vacant seats. The opposition Democratic Party, which successfully led the campaign last week to impeach Yoon over his failed martial-law bid, is looking to fill the remaining seats as quickly as possible, a move that would lower the bar for removing Yoon to two-thirds of the judges from 100%.

Kweon Seong-dong, floor leader of Yoon’s People Power Party, objected Tuesday to the opposition parties’ efforts to fill the places, contending that the nominees should not be formally appointed by Acting President Han Duck-soo even if approved. He cited a 2017 case when then Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn refrained from appointing a constitutional judge after one justice retired in the middle of President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial.

DP floor leader Park Chan-dae has dismissed the argument and said his party will push ahead with the appointments. Two nominations have come from his party while the other is a PPP pick.

Four of the judges currently sitting on the court were nominated by either former President Moon Jae-in or a Supreme Court justice Moon had appointed. Among the other two, Cheong Hyungsik was a pick by Yoon while Kim Bok-hyeong was named by a Supreme Court chief the current president had appointed.

If three more judges are added to the court with the current nominations, the court would be made of six judges who owe their appointment to Moon or his appointee and three ultimately to Yoon. Still, in 2017 the constitutional court at the time made a unanimous decision to uphold former President Park’s impeachment, despite some owing their appointments to her.

Moon has supported Yoon’s impeachment and has publicly shown support for Lee Jae-myung, the DP leader who media polls show as the favorite to replace Yoon if an election were held as a result of the Constitutional Court approving Yoon’s impeachment.

South Korea’s National Assembly suspended Yoon from power on Saturday by narrowly passing an impeachment motion against him after the president imposed a brief martial-law decree on Dec. 3 and sent troops into parliament.

Yoon has vowed to fight on. The South Korean president is fielding his legal defense team and denies insurrection allegations against him, Yonhap News reported Tuesday, citing Seok Dong-hyeon, an attorney who represents him.

Yoon declared martial law, claiming the need to crack down on an opposition-controlled parliament that sought to paralyze his government. An opposition coalition managed to pass the impeachment motion against him last week in a second attempt, sending the motion to the Constitutional Court for approval.

The court has until mid-June to decide on the impeachment motion and plans to hold its first preliminary hearing on Dec. 27.