To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Reuters Demonstrators opposing the court’s approval of an arrest warrant for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol protest outside his official residence in Seoul on Tuesday.
Reuters
17:57 JST, January 1, 2025
SEOUL (Reuters) – Senior aides to South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol offered to resign en masse on Wednesday, a day after his office expressed regret over acting President Choi Sang-mok’s approved of two new judges to a court set to decide Yoon’s fate.
Yoon’s chief of staff, policy chief, national security advisor and special advisor on foreign affairs and security, as well as all other senior secretaries, tendered their resignation, his office said in a statement, without elaborating.
The aides had repeatedly expressed their intent to step down in the wake of Yoon’s botched attempt to declare martial law on Dec. 3, but their resignations have not been accepted, said a presidential official, who declined to be identified owing to political sensitivities.
The official said the senior secretaries have been assisting Choi since he took over as acting president. Two other officials said the aides do not participate in day-to-day government operations, but are required to report to Choi and attend meetings when necessary.
The aides’ latest offer came a day after Choi’s surprise approval to fill two vacancies on the Constitutional Court handling the impeachment trial against Yoon.
It brought the total number of justices to eight on the nine-member court. Any decision in the Yoon case will require the agreement of at least six judges.
Yoon’s ruling People Power Party criticised Choi’s decision as “dogmatic” and lacking sufficient consultations.
Finance Minister Choi assumed the role of acting president on Friday after the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had been acting president since Dec. 14 when Yoon was suspended from power.
Yoon faces investigations on allegations that he led an insurrection, and a Seoul district court on Tuesday granted approval for his arrest, the first for a sitting president.
