South Korean presidential aides vow to resign amid political crisis By Reuters
Written by Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) – Top supporters of ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to resign en masse on Wednesday, a day after his office expressed regret over Acting President Choi Sang-mok’s approval of two new judges to appear in court to decide Yoon’s future. .
Yoon’s chief policy officer, national security adviser and special adviser on foreign affairs and security, along with all other top secretaries, resigned, his office said in a statement, without elaborating.
Choi said that he will not accept their resignation as the priority now is to focus on developing the economy and stabilizing the affairs of the state, his office said.
Aides had repeatedly expressed their intention to step down following Yoon’s botched attempt to declare martial law on Dec. 3, but their resignations were not accepted, said a presidential official, who declined to be named because of political differences.
The official said that secretaries have been helping Choi since he took office as 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 proposal came a day after Choi gave a surprise approval to fill two vacancies on the Constitutional Court handling the trial against Yoon.
It brought the total number of judges to eight in the nine-member court. Any decision in Yoon’s case would require the agreement of at least six judges.
Yoon’s ruling party, the People Power Party, criticized Choi’s decision as “superstitious” and lacking sufficient consultation.
Finance Minister Choi took over as acting president on Friday after the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had been acting president since December 14 when Yoon was ousted.
Yoon is being investigated for allegedly leading a rebel group, and a Seoul district court on Tuesday granted his arrest warrant, the first for a sitting president.
