April 30, 2025
SEOUL – Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday vetoed a bill that sought to limit an acting president’s authority to nominate justices on the Constitutional Court directly.
During the Cabinet meeting, Han said he was sending back the bill that sought to amend the Constitutional Court Act, which had been proposed by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and passed in a National Assembly plenary session on April 17.
“The amendment contains elements that conflict with existing constitutional provisions, and thus, the government concluded that a request for reconsideration was unavoidable,” Han said during the Cabinet meeting.
Han argued the proposed amendment bill, which would curb the scope of an acting president’s authority — including banning acting presidents from directly nominating three of the nine Constitutional Court justices — contrasts with Article 71 of the Constitution, which he said does not impose any separate restrictions on an acting president’s duties.
“Nonetheless, the amendment seeks to impose a legal restriction not found in the Constitution by limiting the acting president’s authority to appoint only the three Constitutional Court justices nominated by the National Assembly and the other three by the Supreme Court chief justice,” Han stated.
According to Article 6 of the same act, of the nine-member bench, three justices should be selected by the president, three should be selected by the National Assembly and three shall be selected by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Han further argued that the amendment, which would allow a justice whose term had expired to continue performing duties until a successor is appointed, contradicts Article 112 of the Constitution. The article stipulates that the term of office of a Constitutional Court justice shall be six years.
Han also warned of risks posed by a provision in the bill that would automatically appoint a justice if an acting president failed within seven days to appoint a candidate selected by the National Assembly or nominated by the Supreme Court chief justice.
Following the martial law crisis in December, acting President Han, and his successor following his Dec. 27 impeachment, then-acting President Choi Sang-mok, had delayed appointing justice nominees of the Assembly.
“This provision risks reducing the president’s constitutional authority to a mere formality and raises serious concerns about a breach of the separation of powers,” Han said, referring to the bill’s clause stipulating automatic appointment of a justice nominee after seven days.
“I am requesting that the National Assembly reconsider the amendment to the Constitutional Court Act, take comprehensive account of issues undermining the Constitution, and gather the opinions of Cabinet members,” Han said.
No Cabinet member reportedly opposed Han’s veto, marking his eighth as acting president and the 42nd since the launch of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in May 2022 — the second most of any administration in South Korean history.
The Democratic Party, which holds 175 of the 300 seats in the Assembly, introduced the bill on March 31. The party’s action came after Han nominated Lee Wan-kyu, minister of government legislation and widely known to be a long-time confidant of Yoon Suk Yeol, and Ham Sang-hoon, a senior judge at the Seoul High Court, as the president’s nominees for Constitutional Court justices on April 8.
The Constitutional Court on April 16 granted an injunction to suspend the effect of Han’s nominations in a unanimous 9-0 decision.
Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting is expected to be the last one convened by Han before May 4. Under election law, he must resign from his current position by May 4, 30 days before the early election on June 3, in order to run for president.
During the Cabinet meeting, Han also called for all ministries to work as a team, centered around Finance Minister Choi and Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun, to overcoming challenges during tariff negotiations with the US and urged efforts to produce outcomes in the national interest.
South Korea and the US will initiate working-level consultations in specific sectors, including tariff and nontariff measures and cooperation in the shipbuilding industry, in earnest next week, following “two-plus-two” ministerial consultations in Washington on April 24.
“The process aims to establish solutions that are mutually beneficial for Korea and the US,” Han said. “Nonetheless, we will have to overcome numerous obstacles by July, when the consultations are scheduled to conclude, and we will face situations at times where we must make determinations for the sake of the national interest,” according to the interim leader.
On Friday, Choi announced that consensus had been formed between the Trump administration and the South Korean government’s representatives to strike a comprehensive, all-in-one “package” deal on tariffs and economic cooperation before July 8, when the pause in Trump’s 25 percent “reciprocal” tariffs is supposed to end, and after the inauguration of a new Korean president following the June 3 early presidential election.
“However, we have always met challenges head-on and turned crises into opportunities,” Han said. “If we successfully lead mutually beneficial trade consultations with the US, the firm Korea-US alliance will further mature into a prosperous economic alliance,” according to him.