The News
South Korean lawmakers impeached the country’s acting president on Friday, accusing him of impeding efforts to complete the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The country has been gripped by a political crisis since Yoon attempted to impose martial law earlier this month, citing “anti-state forces.” His case now sits before Seoul’s constitutional court, with six of nine justices required to cast affirmative votes required to uphold the impeachment, but only six currently sit on the bench: Acting President Han Duck Soo blocked the appointment of three others, drawing uproar from the legislature.
Choi Sang Mok, the country’s finance minister, has been named as the new acting president.
SIGNALS
A deepening political crisis leaves a ‘leadership vacuum’
South Korea’s second impeachment in two weeks has left a significant “leadership vacuum,” generating further uncertainty for a country previously seen as an example of stable democracy: New acting president Choi is having to juggle multiple roles as the current finance minister at a time of rising threats from North Korea and a highly divisive National Assembly. Economists are also concerned that prolonged confusion will have long-term adverse effects on the already flagging economy, further eroding the country’s credit rating. However, some experts told Yonhap News Agency that Choi’s experience as a non-partisan bureaucrat could have a “calming influence.”
South Korea loses standing on the international stage
Impeached President Yoon changed the course of South Korea’s diplomacy “like no leader before him,” The New York Times wrote, forging closer ties with the US and Japan and spurning China to create a close ally of the West in Northeast Asia. However, Yoon’s declaration of martial law and the subsequent political crisis risks “unraveling” his foreign policy agenda: US officials canceled an upcoming visit to South Korea with one expert describing the situation as an “egg in the face” for the Biden administration. Danny Russel, vice president of the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute, told the outlet that South Korea’s foreign policy looks likely to shift “toward appeasement of North Korea, deference to China, hostility toward Japan, and skepticism of the United States.”