SEOUL, Dec 15: South Korea's acting president, Han Duck-soo, moved on Sunday to reassure the country's allies and calm financial markets a day after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached and suspended from his duties over a martial law attempt.
Han spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden by phone, the White House and Han's office said.
"South Korea will carry out its foreign and security policies without disruption and strive to ensure the South Korea-U.S. alliance is maintained and developed steadfastly," Han said, according to a statement from his office.
In a further attempt to stabilise the Asian nation's leadership, the main opposition party announced it would not seek to impeach Han for his involvement in Yoon's Dec. 3 martial law decision.
"Given that the prime minister has already been confirmed as acting president and considering that excessive impeachments could lead to confusion in national governance, we have decided not to proceed with impeachment procedures," Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung told reporters.
Prosecutors said Yoon did not appear on Sunday morning in response to a summons for questioning in a criminal investigation into his martial law decision, and they promised to issue another order, Yonhap news agency reported.
Yoon and a number of senior officials face potential charges of insurrection, abuse of authority and obstructing people from exercising their rights.
The prosecutors' office did not answer phone calls seeking comment.
Han, a longtime technocrat picked by the conservative Yoon as prime minister, was elevated to acting president in accordance with the constitution while Yoon's case moves to the Constitutional Court.
Demonstrators seeking Yoon's ouster braved the cold to throng the streets outside the National Assembly building where he was impeached. The crowd was about 200,000, according to police, Yonhap said.
Since Han's role is only acting president, "I hope he will exercise the minimum power to operate the country stably, rather than actively be involved in state affairs," said Jo Sung-woo, a 39-year-old Seoul resident.
About 8.5 km (five miles) away, a much smaller number of Yoon supporters demonstrated in the central Seoul area.
"I really can't stand to see these illegal lawmakers who were elected by fraudulent elections making evil laws and now this huge opposition party is running wild on their own," said Yim Joung-sook, 55.
Yoon's surprise martial law declaration and the ensuing political crisis spooked markets and South Korea's diplomatic partners, worried over the country's ability to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
Biden told Han the ironclad U.S.-South Korea alliance remained unchanged and Washington would work with Seoul to further develop and strengthen the alliance as well as trilateral cooperation including neighbour Japan, Han's office said.
Meanwhile, South Korea's opposition leader urged a top court on Sunday to swiftly formalise the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol and ease the "suffering of the people" after his short-lived martial law decree.
Lawmakers voted on Saturday to remove Yoon from office over his "insurrectionary" suspension of civilian rule, which lasted hours but plunged South Korea into some of its worst political turmoil in years.
Yoon has been suspended while South Korea's Constitutional Court deliberates the impeachment, with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo serving as interim leader. —REUTERS, AFP
