South Korea Impeachment, Israel Attacks Houthis, Georgia's Political Crisis
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What led to the impeachment of South Korea's acting president?
South Korea has voted to impeach its acting president. The vote comes just two weeks after the former president was impeached following a failed attempt to impose martial law. What's behind the country's political upheaval? I'm Sarah McCammon. This is Up First from NPR News. Israel has struck Houthi targets in Yemen, including an international airport in the country's capital, power stations and ports. What comes next as fighting between the Iran-supported group and Israel escalates? And the country of Georgia is set to swear in a new president this weekend, but the incumbent president refuses to stand down following a disputed election. A look at the brewing showdown between the country's opposition and the government. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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It's been less than a month since South Korea's parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Sang-yeol for imposing martial law. Now, parliament has voted to impeach his replacement. It's the first time South Korea has impeached an acting president, and it illustrates the seriousness of the political crisis gripping one of Asia's key democracies. NPR international correspondent Anthony Kuhn joins us now from Seoul. Hi there, Anthony.
Hey, Sarah.
So tell us about the acting president and why parliament wants him out.
Han Deok-soo is prime minister and he was made acting president when Yoon Song-yeol was impeached. Now in South Korea, the president appoints the prime minister. So he's like a vice president and he's in line to succeed the president. Now the opposition party, which controls the parliament, says that Han refused to appoint three justices to fill vacancies on the constitutional court. And that's the court which will rule on President Yoon's impeachment. Han says he didn't appoint them because that's up to the president to do, and he's the acting president.
Which raises the question, who is running the country now?
Good question. So the finance minister, Chae Song-mok, who doubles as the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, is now the acting president. Earlier today, before the impeachment vote, Chae argued that if they impeach acting President Han, it would leave the country, as he put it, without a control tower. And he pointed to the problems, the instability going on right now. The currency, the yuan, has slumped to its lowest level against the dollar in 16 years. Business confidence is at its lowest since the pandemic. And the government has been trying to stabilize the situation and reassure people, and their job just got a lot bigger.
Okay, so back to former President Yun, the president who declared martial law and kicked all of this off. What's the latest with him?
Well, the Constitutional Court had its first hearing today to prepare for the trial. They have 180 days to decide whether they're going to remove Yoon or reinstate him. But they say this impeachment trial is their top priority and they're going to move quickly on it.
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