S Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets

Lawmakers voted on Saturday to impeach Yoon Suk-yeol over his brief declaration of martial law, which plunged the country into some of its worst turmoil in decades

- Reuters

SEOUL: South Korea's acting president, Han Duck-soo, moved on Sunday to reassure the country's allies and calm financial markets a day after President Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached and suspended from his duties over a martial law attempt.

Han spoke with US President Joe Biden by phone, the White House and Han's office said.

"South Korea will carry out its foreign and security policies without disruption and strive to ensure the South Korea-US alliance is maintained and developed steadfastly," Han said, according to a statement from his office.

In a further attempt to stabilise the Asian nation's leadership, the main opposition party announced it would not seek to impeach Han for his involvement in Yoon's December 3 martial law decision.

"Given that the prime minister has already been confirmed as acting president and considering that excessive impeachments could lead to confusion in national governance, we have decided not to proceed with impeachment procedures," Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung told reporters.

Prosecutors said Yoon did not appear on Sunday morning in response to a summons for questioning in a criminal investigation into his martial law decision, and they promised to issue another order, Yonhap news agency reported.