Following his impeachment, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s fate rests with the Constitutional Court. Its decision may end up rattling relations with the US and Japan — while bringing Seoul closer to Beijing.
The court has 180 days to decide whether to accept the impeachment motion passed by the National Assembly on Saturday as legal. If it does, Yoon is ousted and elections must be held in 60 days.
One of his greatest achievements in office was helping to bring South Korea, Japan and the US together to enhance joint security. That included practical steps like joint training on submarine hunting and sharing real-time data on ballistic missile launches to ward off potential threats from North Korea and China.
The plan’s three architects were Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, and Yoon, who are respectively out of office, halfway out the door, and suspended pending expulsion.
US President-elect Donald Trump halted large-scale military training drills with Seoul in his first term to pursue talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Drills could again be put on hold if Trump wants to try talks once more.
Then there’s Lee Jae-myung, the frontrunner to replace Yoon.
Lee has been critical of Yoon’s willingness to warm to Japan, the colonial master of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
He’s also signaled doubt about following the Biden administration’s curbs on advanced semiconductors to China, chastising Yoon’s government for hurting leading chipmaker South Korea’s economic interests by favoring Japan and the US at the expense of ties with China and Russia.
The Chinese Communist Party-controlled Global Times newspaper showered praise on Lee in an opinion piece earlier this year, lauding his view of staying clear from tensions over Taiwan.
Once South Korea escapes political limbo, it may show another face to the world. — Jon Herskovitz