South Korean acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo bows after delivering an address to the nation on Thursday at the government complex in Seoul in which he announced his resignation, in a move widely seen as signaling his intention to run in a snap presidential election next month. Photo by Yonhap/EPA-EFE
May 1 (UPI) — South Korean acting president Han Duck-soo resigned his position as prime minister Thursday ahead of a likely run for president in a June 3 election called to replace President Yoon Suk Yeol who was removed from office over a botched bid to impose martial law.
Han said that he stepped down to “do what I can, do what I must, for us to overcome the crisis we face,” he said, referring to recent political upheaval and the threat it posed to South Korea’s economy and well-being.
“Thinking of the weight of the responsibility I carry at this grave time, after thinking long and carefully about whether such a decision is right and inevitable, I decided that if this is the only way, I must take it,” he said in a televised address in which he did not explicitly announce his candidacy. “I have two roads in front of me. One is to complete the important mission I currently have, while the other is to lay down that important mission and bear a greater responsibility.”
Han’s resignation came hours after the Supreme Court ordered a retrial of Democratic Party candidate and front-runner for president, former Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung for alleged election law violations dating back to 2021, for which he received a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, in November.
A lower court subsequently acquitted Lee but the decision by the highest court in the land to overturn the ruling, saying it considered him guilty, puts his candidacy under renewed pressure due to rules barring anyone fined $700 or more for election law convictions from standing for elected office for five years, or 10 years if a prison sentence is handed down.
Yoon’s People Power Party called for Lee to be disqualified from the race or step aside of his own accord, but Lee vowed to fight on, alleging the charges against him were trumped up and politically motivated.
“I will only trust the people and move ahead confidently,” he said in a statement posted on social media in which he said voters and not courts should determine the fate of South Korea.
Elements of the PPP, which is due to select its candidate Saturday, are backing a Han presidency even though he does not belong to South Korea’s second-largest party or any other party — meaning he would have to work out a deal with whoever the party selects over who heads the PPP ticket in June.
The two candidates vying to represent the PPP on the ballot — former party leader Han Dong-hoon and former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo — have both indicated a willingness to have Han on their tickets.