Acting president rejects mass resignation by impeached president's senior staff on New Year's Day

최상목 대행, 대통령실 참모진 사표 수리 않기로 대통령실 실장•수석, '헌법재판관 임명' 崔대행에 일괄사의

Amid political clashes following President Yoon 's martial law decree, senior presidential secretaries tendered their resignations en masse.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok has not accepted the resignations.
Our correspondent Oh Soo-young has the details.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok rejected the collective resignations by senior presidential secretaries on New Year's Day, emphasizing the need to restore stability to the nation, amid the political fallout from President Yoon Suk Yeol's imposition of martial law on December 3rd.

The Presidential Office conveyed to the media on Wednesday that all senior aides,.. including Chief-of-Staff Chung Jin-suk, Policy Chief of Staff Sung Tae-yoon and National Security Advisor Shin Won-shik tendered their resignations to the acting president.
As Yoon's presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him, his secretaries have been reporting to Choi instead, who was himself a senior economic affairs secretary to Yoon.
The finance ministry issued a statement saying the "Acting president believes that this is a time when all efforts must be focused on stabilizing livelihoods and ensuring the smooth administration of state affairs he has no plans to accept the resignations."

The mass resignations of Yoon's staff come a day after Choi decided to partially meet the opposition Democratic Party's demand to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court.
The move is expected to speed up the impeachment trial proceedings against President Yoon.
As the impeachment case proceeds, political forces have been locking horns over the three empty seats on the Constitutional Court bench.

With the two-thirds majority rule, the six justices currently on the panel would have to vote unanimously to impeach the embattled leader.
While the ruling party has insisted an acting president does not have the authority to appoint Constitutional Court justices, the opposition has called for a full nine-member panel.

"As of Tuesday, the Court says it's still discussing the feasibility of issuing rulings with the current six-member bench. It said it urged the speedy filling of judicial vacancies, citing an unusually high number of urgent cases. It emphasized that the Court needs to function properly in order for state governance to stabilize."

Under pressure from all sides, Choi took a decisive step, appointing two judges recommended in a bill passed by the National Assembly last Thursday.
But he deferred the appointment of Ma Eun-hyeok, nominated by the main opposition, calling for a bipartisan agreement.
A senior government official said Acting President Choi was aiming for a balanced composition on the Constitutional Court, by appointing one nominee each from the ruling and opposition parties.

However, the Presidential Office and the People Power Party expressed regret over Choi’s decision, as they maintain that judicial appointments should not be made by an interim leader.
Choi's move appears to have been aimed at appeasing the majority-holding opposition to restore stability to state affairs and the economy.
The Democratic Party unilaterally impeached previous Acting President Han Duck-soo, for not approving new constitutional justices until the two parties had reached an agreement.
Although one position remains vacant, the court now has eight justices, the same number as when it ruled to impeach former President Park Geun-hye in 2017.

Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.

#ActingPresident #ChoiSangmok #presidential_secretaries_resign #최상목_대통령대행 #대통령수석비서관 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스

📣 Facebook :   / arirangtvnews  
📣 Twitter :   / arirangtvnews  
📣 Homepage : https://arirang.com/

2025-01-01, 18:00 (KST)