South Korea​n Court ​Reinstates Impeached Prime Minister

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo of South Korea was restored to office as acting president​ on Monday, after the country’s Constitutional Court overturned his impeachment by the National Assembly. But the ruling did little to herald any political stability in the country, which has lurched from crisis to crisis.

Mr. Han briefly served as South Korea’s acting president after ​the Assembly impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec. 14​, suspending Mr. Yoon from office in connection with his failed attempt to place the country under martial law. Mr. Han had been in the role for less than two weeks when the Assembly impeached him as well, adding to the turmoil engulfing South Korea, a key Asian ally of the United States.

The Constitutional Court has yet to announce when it will rule on whether to oust or reinstall Mr. Yoon — a far more consequential decision that South Koreans have been awaiting for weeks with growing anxiety. If Mr. Yoon is removed, South Korea will elect a new president within 60 days. If he is returned to office, he will face a country more fractured than ever over his presidency.

The Constitutional Court has the final say on whether officials impeached by the Assembly are formally removed or reinstalled. Its ruling Monday took effect immediately and cannot be appealed.

Mr. Han immediately returned to his duties, replacing Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, the official next in line in the government hierarchy, who had been doubling as acting president. But the country still has no elected leader as it faces North Korea’s nuclear threats and the global tariffs that President Trump has said he will impose in the coming weeks.

When the Assembly impeached Mr. Han, it accused him of collaborating in what it called Mr. Yoon’s illegal declaration of martial law. It also said Mr. Han had violated his constitutional duties by refusing to appoint three Constitutional Court justices nominated by the Assembly. Mr. Han denied the accusations.

In the court’s ruling on Monday, only one of its eight justices supported Mr. Han’s removal from office. The votes of at least six justices are needed to remove impeached officials; otherwise, they are reinstated.

The court said it had found no evidence that Mr. Han played a role in Mr. Yoon’s imposition of martial law. Mr. Han has insisted that he was not aware of Mr. Yoon’s plan until the night the president declared it. When Mr. Han first heard of it, he said, he voiced his objection to Mr. Yoon, saying it would damage the country’s economy and its international reputation.

Mr. Han was the first acting president in South Korean history to be impeached.

Four justices said that Mr. Han’s refusal to appoint the three Constitutional Court justices nominated by the Assembly was a violation of the Constitution and related laws, but that the breach was not serious enough to merit his removal. Only one justice said it was serious enough.

When Mr. Yoon was impeached, the top court had only six justices, with three vacancies to be filled by the opposition-controlled Assembly. The opposition denounced Mr. Han’s refusal to sign off on the Assembly’s nominees as an attempt to improve Mr. Yoon’s chances of being restored to office — since his removal would require six votes, regardless of how many justices were on the court.

Mr. Choi, Mr. Han’s successor as acting president, later appointed two of the three justices, leaving only one vacancy on the court, which normally has nine members.

“I thank the Constitutional Court for its wise decision,” Mr. Han said upon resuming his official duties after 88 days.

He called on South Korea to overcome its political polarization so it could better deal with the “intensifying hegemonic competition between the United States and China and a new geopolitical upheaval” in the wake of Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

“If there is anything we have witnessed and learned clearly from the past few years, it is that an extremely polarized society cannot fulfill its dreams, only meeting miseries,” he said.

The Monday ruling provided no clues to how the court would rule on Mr. Yoon’s case. But it was the latest twist in a political drama that has gripped South Korea for months.

Mr. Yoon’s presidency had been marked by deepening strife between his office and the National Assembly. Mr. Yoon vetoed a record number of its bills, while the Assembly voted to impeach more government officials than any previous legislature.

Kwon Young-se, the leader of Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party, hailed the court’s ruling as a “stern warning against the legislative violence wielded by the giant opposition.”

But Lee Jae-myung, the main opposition leader, said that only when Mr. Yoon is removed from office could South Korea “start to end the confusion and restore normalcy.”