Democratic Party puts impeachment of Acting President on hold

[Anchor]

Let's take a closer look at the situation regarding Acting President Han Duck-soo's exercise of the right to request a reconsideration.

Reporter Shin Ji-hye is here with us.

Welcome.

Reporter Shin, first of all, this is the most curious part.

The Democratic Party has warned that if the veto is exercised, they will immediately move to impeach, but now they have said they will hold off.

What is the reason for this?

[Reporter]

There are two main reasons.

First, if they were to impeach Acting President Han, it could further delay the urgent appointment of Constitutional Court judges or the launch of a special investigation.

The appointment of judges or a special prosecutor falls under the role of the acting president, so they believe it is better to maintain the current system for now.

Additionally, the Democratic Party seem to have judged that it would not be too late to decide on impeachment after observing how Acting President Han handles the two issues.

There are also concerns about a backlash from excessive impeachment.

Policy bills can actually be pushed forward again at any time, and there is a sentiment that pursuing impeachment on the grounds of exercising the veto is unnecessary.

Instead, they seem to be preparing to bring up the impeachment motion at any time and will likely apply more pressure for the appointment of judges and the passage of the special investigation bill.

[Anchor]

Yes, as you just mentioned, the special investigation bill is next in line.

Can the special investigation into the insurrection and the investigation into Mrs. Kim Keon-hee also be subject to a veto?

[Reporter]

It is difficult to predict at this time.

The Prime Minister's Office is being extremely reserved about the exercise of the veto on the special investigation bill.

They say, "We will decide based on the Constitution and laws," but they cannot ignore political considerations.

The government's position remains unchanged that it would be unconstitutional for the opposition to monopolize the recommendation authority for the special prosecutor, but the political situation has changed since the martial law incident, which is a variable.

There are concerns that Acting President Han, who is a suspect in the investigation of the martial law incident, has little justification to reject the insurrection special investigation.

Even if they request reconsideration for the investigation into Mrs. Kim, there could be defections within the ruling party that lead to a re-vote.

In this case, there are worries that worsening public opinion could make it even more difficult to manage state affairs.

The Prime Minister's Office is hopeful that there is a possibility of amendments to the special investigation bill in the National Assembly, but given the current extreme confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties, this also seems difficult.

They must decide whether to request reconsideration by December 31, and the Prime Minister's Office has stated that they will continue to review until just before that.

[Anchor]

If the Democratic Party decides to move forward with impeaching Acting President Han Duck-soo, we should also consider that scenario.

However, there is controversy over whether he should be regarded as the president or the prime minister since he is acting in the role of the president.

[Reporter]

The interpretations between the ruling and opposition parties are conflicting.

According to the Constitution, impeachment of the Prime Minister, ministers, or judges requires a majority of the lawmakers present.

Only the impeachment of the president requires a two-thirds majority.

However, there are no provisions regarding the "acting president."

Some in the presidential office and the ruling party argue that since the acting president performs the duties of the president, the standards for "presidential impeachment" should apply.

The Democratic Party counters that according to the regulations, the two-thirds majority requirement only applies to the "president," and the acting president does not fall under this category.

If impeachment against him is actually pursued, this will also likely become a political issue.