Arya News - Lee Ju-ho, the deputy prime minister and education minister, is taking over as acting president of South Korea from Friday after Choi Sang-mok, the second in line for acting president, resigned following threats of impeachment.
SEOUL – Lee Ju-ho, the deputy prime minister and education minister, is taking over as acting president of South Korea from Friday after Choi Sang-mok, the second in line for acting president, resigned following threats of impeachment.
Choi said he would be stepping down late Thursday after the Democratic Party of Korea, which controls the National Assembly’s majority, unilaterally tabled the resolution to impeach him. His resignation offer was approved by former acting President Han Duck-soo shortly after.
Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced his resignation from the acting president role in an address. This came just three days before the deadline by which public officials must leave their post to be eligible to run for president.
Han is speculated to launch a bid to run in the June 3 presidential election on Friday.
According to Han’s office, the acting president, whose resignation takes effect from Thursday midnight, met with Lee, who is succeeding him, at his office and asked that the running of the government be “uninterrupted under any circumstances.”
After former President Yoon Suk Yeol was suspended from office in a National Assembly vote on Dec. 14, 2024, Han filled in as acting president until he was also impeached in a Democratic Party-led vote just 13 days later.
Han returned as acting president on March 24 after the Constitutional Court dismissed the Assembly’s impeachment of him. During the three months Han was suspended, Choi assumed the role of acting president.
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