South Korea has become a case study in how a thriving democracy can suddenly spiral into a constitutional crisis, and there’s no end in sight.
For the past five months, the country has been run by three different acting presidents after its elected leader was impeached and removed for abruptly declaring martial law late last year.
But as the country prepares to elect a new president on June 3, citizens hoping to see stability face more uncertainty. There are already doubts over whether the front-runner, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, will be legally allowed to run — or to finish his term if he wins.
Adding to that, Han Duck-soo, who stepped down as prime minister and acting president on Thursday, declared a presidential bid on Friday. But he needs to secure the support of the People Power Party to have a chance of success, and that party is currently considering its own candidate.
Mr. Han served as the faithful No. 2 in the government of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached for his short-lived imposition of martial law and is standing trial on an charges including insurrection. Still, Mr. Han said he was the best person to end the political polarization that has paralyzed South Korea’s governance and to fend off what he called a “tariff bombardment” from U.S. President Trump.
“I have decided to find what I can do for the future of my beloved country,” Mr. Han said. “I will do my best to get myself chosen by the people in the election.”
It remains questionable whether he can. Polls in recent weeks asking South Koreans whom they favored as the next president have shown Mr. Han in a distant second or third place behind Mr. Lee.
When Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party selects its presidential candidate on Saturday, its leadership wants the candidate to negotiate with Mr. Han so that only one of them would run in order to increase their chances against Mr. Lee.
“There is a systematic plot underway to shake up the landscape for the presidential election,” said Park Chan-dae, a campaign manager for Mr. Lee.
Mr. Yoon’s long confrontation with the Democratic Party, which dominated the National Assembly, culminated with him sending troops into the legislature on Dec. 3. The Democratic Party led the Assembly to impeach Mr. Yoon on Dec. 14 despite resistance from his own party.
The county has since been strongly divided and on a leadership merry-go-round.
The Democratic Party used its parliamentary majority to push bills through the Assembly. But when Mr. Han, the first acting president, vetoed them, it impeached him too, putting Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok in charge. When the country’s Constitutional Court overturned Mr. Han’s impeachment, he returned as acting president.
On Thursday, South Koreans saw an even faster game of musical chairs.
After Mr. Han resigned as acting president to prepare his presidential bid, Mr. Choi was set to step back in. But after Mr. Choi learned that the Democratic Party was about to impeach him too, he resigned from government. That left the job of acting president to Lee Ju-Ho, the education minister with no background in diplomatic or trade issues.
“The people had wished that their country would dispel uncertainty by removing the president soon and holding a new election,” said Kang Won-taek, a professor of political science at Seoul National University. “Now their anxiety has only increased.”
The Democratic Party’s Mr. Lee had looked poised to become the next elected president. Then the Supreme Court dropped a bombshell.
On Thursday, it overturned a lower-court ruling that had acquitted Mr. Lee of violating election laws. It returned the case to the lower court for retrial, saying that it considered Mr. Lee guilty.
Mr. Lee’s presidential hopes now hinge on what type of penalty he will get if convicted in the retrial. A fine of more than $700 would disqualify him as a presidential candidate. Mr. Lee vowed to continue his campaign, confident that he won’t be formally convicted before the election.
Now other troubling questions have arisen: Can the court continue the trial even if Mr. Lee is elected? What if he is convicted? Mr. Lee faces several other criminal trials, which he said were engineered by Mr. Yoon.
South Korea’s Constitution says the president “shall not be charged with a criminal offense during his tenure of office except for insurrection or treason.” But it doesn’t specify whether the president should continue to stand trial on charges filed before his election. That means that even if Mr. Lee is elected, his presidency could be affected by how the Constitutional Court interprets the Constitution.
On Friday, Mr. Han said that he would work to complete a constitutional overhaul within three years and step down so that the country can hold its presidential and parliamentary elections at the same time in 2028 under a new Constitution.
Mr. Lee has also pledged to end the cycle of destabilizing bipartisan battles.
But a month out from the election, it is not yet certain that either can.
Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea.
The post South Korea Lurches From One Political Crisis to Another appeared first on New York Times.
