South Korean leaders seek to ease tumult

People who called for the ouster of president Yoon Suk Yeol leave post-it notes on a bus. Pic/AFP

South Korea's opposition leader offered Sunday to work with the government to ease the political tumult as officials sought to reassure allies and markets, a day after the opposition-controlled parliament voted to impeach conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol over a short-lived attempt to impose martial law.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, whose party holds a majority in the National Assembly, urged the Constitutional Court to rule swiftly on Yoon's impeachment and proposed a special council for policy cooperation between the government and parliament. Yoon's powers have been suspended until the court decides whether to remove him from office or reinstate him. If Yoon is dismissed, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.

The court will meet to discuss the case today, and has up to 180 days to rule. But observers say that a court ruling could come faster. In the case of parliamentary impeachments of past presidents - Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 and Park Geun-hye in 2016 - the court spent 63 days and 91 days, respectively, before determining to reinstate Roh and dismiss Park.

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