Prime Minister Han apologizes but denies involvement in martial law decree

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Prime Minister Han apologizes but denies involvement in martial law decree

Published: 19 Feb. 2025, 19:18 Updated: 20 Feb. 2025, 15:30

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo attends the sole hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 19. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo apologized for failing to dissuade President Yoon Suk Yeol from declaring martial law but denied being involved in attempts to implement the decree during the sole hearing of his impeachment trial on Wednesday.

Han was impeached while serving as acting president by the Democratic Party (DP)-controlled National Assembly on Dec. 27 for refusing to appoint three of the legislature’s nominees for the Constitutional Court, less than two weeks after lawmakers voted to suspend Yoon from office.

Two of the nominees, Chung Kye-sun and Cho Han-chang, were later appointed by current acting President Choi Sang-mok, bringing the number of justices on the bench to eight.

The National Assembly’s impeachment motion against Han initially cited four other acts by the prime minister as warranting his removal: vetoing special counsel bills pushed by the DP, aiding and abetting Yoon’s declaration of martial law, declining to appoint members of a permanent counsel probe to investigate Yoon’s decree, and attempting to run the government with then-People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon.

Though Prime Minister Han said he is “sincerely sorry for putting the people through a difficult situation” by “failing to convince the president to make a different choice,” he pushed back against all of the National Assembly’s accusations during Wednesday’s hearing.

“I had no idea beforehand what the president had planned, and I tried my best to make him reconsider after I found out he intended to declare martial law,” Han told the court.

The prime minister emphasized that he “played absolutely no part in the deployment of the military” to locations such as the National Assembly on the night of Dec. 3.

Han attributed his reluctance to appoint the Assembly’s nominees for the Constitutional Court to “the need to exercise restraint regarding powers unique to the president” and “the lack of precedent for appointing justices who do not enjoy bipartisan consensus.”

The prime minister said he discussed running the government in cooperation with the PPP leader “to maintain stability in state affairs” and not to take advantage of the power void left by Yoon’s impeachment, as alleged by the National Assembly.

He further argued that he vetoed some DP-backed bills because “they could be found to be unconstitutional, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for the government to then try to execute them.”

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during his impeachment trial hearing at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 19. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]

Han also repeated his previous request to the Constitutional Court to issue a “swift” decision reinstating him, arguing that “future generations will pay a steep price if the government is unable to respond to ongoing changes in the global geopolitical order.”

Wednesday’s hearing, which began at 2 p.m. and ended approximately 90 minutes later, was the sole session of oral arguments scheduled by the court for Han’s impeachment trial.

The prime minister is also due to testify at the tenth hearing of Yoon’s impeachment trial on Thursday.

The court’s eventual ruling in the prime minister’s case is likely to also address whether the two-thirds majority required to pass presidential impeachment motions should have applied to Han’s case.

Han’s impeachment was fiercely criticized by the PPP, which argued his suspension from office should have required the backing of two-thirds of lawmakers given his status at the time as acting president, not the simple majority that National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik decided was sufficient.

The PPP noted that most of the accusations levied by the DP against Han concerned actions he took as acting president.

However, the DP argued the charge that Han acted as Yoon’s accomplice before he became the country’s interim leader meant he could be impeached by a simple parliamentary majority.

The impeachment motion against the prime minister passed with support from 192 out of 300 lawmakers. All 108 PPP lawmakers boycotted the vote.

The DP and National Assembly’s representatives were later criticized for asking the court to disregard the charge that Han acted as Yoon’s accomplice, which many viewed as a central justification for his impeachment.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]