South Korea’s No 2 leader is back in the top spot. What happens next?

In the latest twist in South Korea’s ongoing political crisis, the country’s Constitutional Court has reinstated Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as acting leader, overturning his impeachment by opposition lawmakers three months ago.

The court’s ruling on Monday marks just one front in the deepening turmoil as it simultaneously weighs the far more consequential case of conservative president Yoon Suk-yeol, whose December impeachment over his brief but stunning martial law decree has left the country’s leadership in limbo for months.

Here’s a closer look at the court’s decision – and what lies ahead:

How did Han get reinstated?

South Korea’s prime minister typically holds limited authority as the country’s second-highest official. But Han, a career bureaucrat who has held various government roles since the 1970s, was elevated to the position of caretaker leader after South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly impeached Yoon on December 14.

Yoon’s impeachment, triggered by his short-lived imposition of martial law that month, immediately suspended his presidential powers and put his political fate in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which is nearing a decision on whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him.

As acting president, Han quickly clashed with the liberal opposition Democratic Party, mainly over his refusal to comply with their demand to immediately fill three vacant seats on the Constitutional Court’s nine-member bench.

The composition of the court is a sensitive issue since removing Yoon from office requires the support of at least six justices, and a full bench would likely increase the chances of his ousting. Han said he would not appoint the justices without bipartisan consent, but the Democrats accused him of siding with the conservatives in the governing People Power Party, which has been campaigning for Yoon’s return to power.

  

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