By Heekyong Yang and Josh Smith
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, took steps on Sunday to reassure the country’s allies and calm financial markets, a day after President Yoon Suk Yeol was accused and suspended of his duties by an attempted martial law.
Han spoke with US President Joe Biden by phone, the White House and Han’s office said.
“South Korea will carry out its foreign and security policy without interruption and strive to ensure that the alliance between South Korea and the United States is firmly maintained and developed,” Han said, according to a statement from his office.
In a new attempt to stabilize the Asian nation’s leadership, the main opposition party announced it would not seek to impeach Han for his role in Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law decision.
“Taking into account that the prime minister has already been confirmed as acting president and considering that excessive impeachments could lead to confusion in national governance, we have decided not to proceed with impeachment proceedings,” the party leader told reporters. Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung.
Prosecutors said Yoon did not appear Sunday morning in response to a subpoena for questioning in a criminal investigation into his decision to implement martial law, and promised to issue another order, Yonhap news agency reported.
Yoon and several senior officials face possible charges of insurrection, abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of their rights.
The prosecutor’s office did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Han, a longtime technocrat chosen by the conservative Yoon as prime minister, was elevated to acting president in accordance with the constitution while Yoon’s case moves to the Constitutional Court.
Protesters seeking Yoon’s ouster braved the cold to pack the streets in front of the National Assembly building where he was impeached. According to police, the crowd was about 200,000 people, Yonhap said.
Since Han’s role is only that of acting president, “I expect him to exercise minimal power to run the country stably, rather than actively involving himself in state affairs,” said Jo Sung-woo, a Seoul resident from 39 years old.
About 8.5 kilometers (five miles) away, a much smaller number of Yoon’s supporters demonstrated in the central Seoul area.
“I really can’t stand to see these illegal legislators who were elected through fraudulent elections making evil laws and now this huge opposition party is running amok on their own,” said Yim Joung-sook, 55.
THE THREAT OF NORTH KOREA
Yoon’s surprise declaration of martial law and the ensuing political crisis spooked markets and South Korea’s diplomatic partners, concerned about the country’s ability to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
Biden told Han that the strong alliance between the United States and South Korea remains unchanged and that Washington will work with Seoul to further develop and strengthen the alliance as well as trilateral cooperation, including with neighboring Japan, Han’s office said.
The White House said in a statement that the US president “expressed his appreciation for the resilience of democracy and the rule of law in the Republic of Korea,” using the abbreviation of the country’s formal name, the Republic of Korea.
Han convened his Cabinet and the National Security Council shortly after Saturday’s impeachment vote and vowed to maintain military preparedness to prevent any breach of national security.
He spoke by phone with the commander of US Forces Korea and expressed concern about the possibility that North Korea could attempt military provocations, such as launching ballistic missiles or cyberattacks, Yonhap said, citing Han’s office.
South Korea’s partners wanted to see credible, constitutional temporary leadership established as soon as possible, said Philip Turner, former New Zealand ambassador to South Korea.
“They will be delighted to see Premier Han take over as acting president,” he said. “He is capable, experienced and highly respected in foreign capitals.”
But even with an interim president in power, international partners face months of uncertainty before a new president can be elected and a new government established, Turner added.
The Constitutional Court has up to six months to decide whether to remove or reinstate Yoon. If he is removed or resigns, new elections will be held within 60 days.
ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES
South Korean stocks rose for a fourth straight session on Friday on hopes that political uncertainty would ease after the impeachment vote in parliament, which followed a failed vote a week earlier.
Democratic Party leader Lee said the most pressing problem is a drop in consumption caused by insufficient domestic demand and the reduction of the government’s fiscal role.
He called for a National Governance Stability Council composed of the government and parliament to discuss public finances, the economy and livelihoods.
“A supplementary budget needs to be discussed quickly,” Lee said, adding that such a measure could support small businesses and investments related to artificial intelligence and infrastructure to try to avoid energy shortages.
Parliament, controlled by Lee’s party, passed a 673.3 trillion won ($470.6 billion) 2025 budget bill on Tuesday that cuts the government’s 677.4 trillion won proposal, without reaching to an agreement with Yoon’s People Power Party and the government.
By law, parliament cannot increase government budgets, and at the time the Democratic Party said a supplementary budget may be needed to address spending on people’s livelihoods.
The party said its cuts came mainly in reserve funds for the government, interest costs and funds allocated to the presidential office, prosecutors and auditors for classified operations. The government accused parliament of delaying projects for small businesses with the cuts.
Stalemate over budget issues was one of the justifications Yoon cited for imposing martial law.
South Korea’s financial authorities on Sunday vowed to act as necessary to stabilize markets, while the finance minister said he would announce an economic policy plan by the end of the year.