{"id":295685,"date":"2025-05-02T09:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T09:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/02\/south-korea-lurches-from-one-political-crisis-to-another\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T09:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T09:02:14","slug":"south-korea-lurches-from-one-political-crisis-to-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/02\/south-korea-lurches-from-one-political-crisis-to-another\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea Lurches From One Political Crisis to Another"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/05\/02\/multimedia\/02int-skorea-politics-btgz\/02int-skorea-politics-btgz-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"South Korea Lurches From One Political Crisis to Another\" title=\"South Korea Lurches From One Political Crisis to Another\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">South Korea has become a case study in how a thriving democracy can suddenly spiral into a constitutional crisis, and there\u2019s no end in sight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For the past five months, the country has been run by three different acting presidents after its elected leader was impeached and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/04\/world\/asia\/south-korea-removes-impeached-president.html\" title=\"\">removed<\/a> for abruptly declaring martial law late last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But as the country prepares to elect a new president on June 3, citizens hoping to see stability face more uncertainty. There are already doubts over whether the front-runner, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, will be legally allowed to run \u2014 or to finish his term if he wins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Adding to that, Han Duck-soo, who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/01\/world\/asia\/south-korea-president-resigns.html\" title=\"\">stepped down<\/a> as prime minister and acting president on Thursday, declared a presidential bid on Friday. But he needs to secure the support of the People Power Party to have a chance of success, and that party is currently considering its own candidate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Han served as the faithful No. 2 in the government of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached for his short-lived imposition of martial law and is standing trial on an charges including insurrection. Still, Mr. Han said he was the best person to end the political polarization that has paralyzed South Korea\u2019s governance and to fend off what he called a \u201ctariff bombardment\u201d from U.S. President Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI have decided to find what I can do for the future of my beloved country,\u201d Mr. Han said. \u201cI will do my best to get myself chosen by the people in the election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It remains questionable whether he can. Polls in recent weeks asking South Koreans whom they favored as the next president have shown Mr. Han in a distant second or third place behind Mr. Lee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Yoon\u2019s People Power Party selects its presidential candidate on Saturday, its leadership wants the candidate to negotiate with Mr. Han so that only one of them would run in order to increase their chances against Mr. Lee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere is a systematic plot underway to shake up the landscape for the presidential election,\u201d said Park Chan-dae, a campaign manager for Mr. Lee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Yoon\u2019s long confrontation with the Democratic Party, which dominated the National Assembly, culminated with him sending troops into the legislature on Dec. 3. The Democratic Party led the Assembly to impeach Mr. Yoon on Dec. 14 despite resistance from his own party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The county has since been strongly divided and on a leadership merry-go-round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Democratic Party used its parliamentary majority to push bills through the Assembly. But when Mr. Han, the first acting president, vetoed them, it impeached him too, putting Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok in charge. When the country\u2019s Constitutional Court overturned Mr. Han\u2019s impeachment, he <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/23\/world\/asia\/south-korea-reinstates-prime-minister.html\" title=\"\">returned<\/a> as acting president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Thursday, South Koreans saw an even faster game of musical chairs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After Mr. Han resigned as acting president to prepare his presidential bid, Mr. Choi was set to step back in. But after Mr. Choi learned that the Democratic Party was about to impeach him too, he resigned from government. That left the job of acting president to Lee Ju-Ho, the education minister with no background in diplomatic or trade issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe people had wished that their country would dispel uncertainty by removing the president soon and holding a new election,\u201d said Kang Won-taek, a professor of political science at Seoul National University. \u201cNow their anxiety has only increased.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Democratic Party\u2019s Mr. Lee had looked poised to become the next elected president. Then the Supreme Court dropped a bombshell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Thursday, it overturned a lower-court ruling that had acquitted Mr. Lee of violating election laws. It returned the case to the lower court for retrial, saying that it considered Mr. Lee guilty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Lee\u2019s presidential hopes now hinge on what type of penalty he will get if convicted in the retrial. A fine of more than $700 would disqualify him as a presidential candidate. Mr. Lee vowed to continue his campaign, confident that he won\u2019t be formally convicted before the election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now other troubling questions have arisen: Can the court continue the trial even if Mr. Lee is elected? What if he is convicted? Mr. Lee faces several other criminal trials, which he said were engineered by Mr. Yoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">South Korea\u2019s Constitution says the president \u201cshall not be charged with a criminal offense during his tenure of office except for insurrection or treason.\u201d But it doesn\u2019t specify whether the president should continue to stand trial on charges filed before his election. That means that even if Mr. Lee is elected, his presidency could be affected by how the Constitutional Court interprets the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Friday, Mr. Han said that he would work to complete a constitutional overhaul within three years and step down so that the country can hold its presidential and parliamentary elections at the same time in 2028 under a new Constitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Lee has also pledged to end the cycle of destabilizing bipartisan battles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But a month out from the election, it is not yet certain that either can.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/02\/world\/asia\/south-koreas-political-crisis.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea has become a case study in how a thriving democracy can suddenly spiral into a constitutional crisis, and there\u2019s no end in sight. For the past five months, the country has been run by three different acting presidents after its elected leader was impeached and removed for abruptly declaring martial law late last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/05\/02\/multimedia\/02int-skorea-politics-btgz\/02int-skorea-politics-btgz-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[229936,174934,734,67,204089,2821,1359,210455,137132,229937,163230,234,137131,6967,1512,163231],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295687,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295685\/revisions\/295687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}