SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
It's been less than a month since South Korea's Parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk 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.
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: Hey, Sarah.
MCCAMMON: So tell us about the acting president and why Parliament wants him out.
KUHN: Han Duck-soo is prime minister, and he was made acting president when Yoon Suk 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.
MCCAMMON: Which raises the question who is running the country now?
KUHN: Good question. So the finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, who doubles as the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, is now the acting president. Earlier today, before the impeachment vote, Choi 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 won, 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.
MCCAMMON: OK, so back to former President Yoon, the president who declared martial law and kicked all of this off. What's the latest with him?
KUHN: 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. Now, besides the impeachment, Yoon is also facing charges of insurrection. And investigators have summoned him two times to appear for questioning, and he has ignored them both times. Meanwhile, the police are trying to gather evidence. And they raided a presidential safe house today to try to find out who Yoon was meeting with and talking to before he declared martial law. They even tried to raid Yoon's presidential security detail office, but the security did not let the police in.
MCCAMMON: Lots of twists and turns here, Anthony. Any idea how long this gridlock might last?
KUHN: So if the Constitutional Court decides to remove Yoon, then the country will need to hold a new presidential election. And that could all take months. I think the longer-term question which is being debated here in South Korea is, does the country's political system need to be overhauled? And those who argue that it does say that the president just has too much power. He gets to appoint the prime minister and the justices. There aren't enough checks and balances. And the result we're seeing now is a showdown between the executive and legislative branches that is just consuming all the government's bandwidth.
MCCAMMON: That's NPR international correspondent Anthony Kuhn. Thanks so much, Anthony.
KUHN: You're welcome, Sarah. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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