South Korea’s opposition party demands probe of impeached President Yoon and his wife

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s main opposition party on Sunday demanded that the nation’s acting president launch special counsel investigations of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee.

The leftist Democratic Party of Korea demanded that acting President Han Duck-soo initiate a special counsel investigation into whether Mr. Yoon’s imposition of martial law earlier this month constituted an insurrection and whether his wife engaged in stock price manipulation and interfered in political appointments.

The DPK told Mr. Han, who is also the prime minister, that he would face consequences if he does not initiate the investigations.

“If acting President Han does not promulgate the special counsel bills by Tuesday, [we] will immediately hold him responsible,” the DPK floor leader Park Chan-dae said Sunday.

Yonhap News Agency reported that to mean that the DPK would push for Mr. Han’s impeachment if he does not accede. A minor 12-seat party has already drafted a bill to that effect.

The DPK’s apparent threat against Mr. Han appears to reverse its stance from a week ago. On Dec. 15, DPK Leader Lee Jae-myung said: “Too many impeachments could lead to confusion in state affairs … as for now, we have decided not to take impeachment steps” against Mr. Han.

But on Thursday, Mr. Han, 75, used his powers as acting president to veto six opposition-sponsored bills in the DPK-controlled National Assembly, mostly related to corporate and agricultural matters.

Immediately before declaring martial law on Dec. 3, Mr. Yoon called an emergency Cabinet meeting that Mr. Han attended. Mr. Han has said he opposed Mr. Yoon’s ploy, and the prime minister has since been questioned by police about the meeting.

Mr. Han runs a caretaker government while the Constitutional Court decides on whether to uphold or overturn Mr. Yoon’s impeachment.

The bitter atmosphere in the National Assembly raises larger questions over whether the impeachment can stand, given the House’s role in appointing Constitutional Court justices.

Nine justices make up the Constitutional Court’s bench, but three seats are presently unoccupied. At least six votes are required to uphold a presidential impeachment, meaning the current bench would have to vote unanimously for it to stand.

New judges are appointed by the National Assembly, then approved by the president or acting president. There is no agreement in the House on new judges to bring the court up to full strength.

If the impeachment is upheld, South Koreans would go to the polls to elect a new president within two months of the court decision.

Mr. Yoon, a key member of the conservative People Power Party, has vowed to “fight until the end.”

Mr. Yoon, 64, declared martial law Dec. 3, citing the threat of North Korea and slamming the opposition-controlled National Assembly as a “den of criminals.” His surprise declaration was met with immediate protests, accusations of rebellion and calls for impeachment.

A Dec. 4 impeachment vote failed in the National Assembly, but a second vote on Dec. 14 passed with votes from 12 members of Mr. Yoon’s own party. Mr. Han, a political independent, assumed leadership of the nation after that vote.