South Korea's opposition has filed an impeachment motion against acting president and prime minister Han Duck-soo, widening a political crisis that began with President Yoon Suk Yeol's aborted martial law declaration.
The opposition says Han has refused to appoint constitutional court judges nominated by the Democratic Party and has vetoed several bills backed by the opposition bloc. It also accuses Han of aiding Yoon's attempt to impose martial law on December 3. Han has apologized for failing to block that move, but the filing shows that the anger around the episode is now reaching the caretaker presidency itself.
The math in parliament matters. The impeachment motion is expected to come to a vote within 24 to 72 hours, and it needs 151 votes in the 300-seat National Assembly to pass. The Democratic Party alone holds 170 seats, and the opposition bloc as a whole holds 192. That gives the motion a realistic path and means Han's political future could be decided almost immediately.
Han became acting president after Yoon was removed from office earlier in the month, which made him the country's de facto caretaker at a moment of legal and constitutional strain. The opposition had hoped he would steady the system while the Constitutional Court reviews Yoon's case. Instead, the dispute over court appointments and opposition bills has deepened the standoff. If Han is impeached, finance minister Choi Sang-mok would be next in line.
The crisis is unfolding while the Constitutional Court prepares to hold its first public hearing on whether Yoon should be permanently barred from office. Yoon is also under investigation for alleged insurrection, and investigators have warned he could face an arrest warrant if he keeps ignoring summonses. The martial law controversy has already brought tens of thousands of protesters into the streets, and the legal fallout now stretches from the president to the acting president and several former senior officials.
Han's ruling People Power Party says the opposition is interfering with the legitimate exercise of authority, while his office has called the threats to impeach him extremely regrettable. That language shows how little common ground remains. South Korea now has multiple investigations, an acting president under threat of removal, and a suspended president fighting removal in court. The impeachment filing is therefore not a side issue but part of a wider contest over who still has the right to govern.
The next few days will show whether Han's opponents can turn their majority into an actual removal. Even if the motion passes, the wider fight will continue because the Constitutional Court still has to decide Yoon's fate and because the insurrection probe has not yet run its course. In that sense, the impeachment threat is both a legal step and a political message: the opposition is prepared to treat any delay on the court or the bills as part of the same crisis that began with martial law.
What happens next will show whether the opposition is using impeachment as a lever to force movement or as a full break with Han's caretaker role.
