Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok resigned from his position on the night of May 1.
Choi abruptly announced his resignation at approximately 10:28 PM, roughly four minutes before National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik was set to announce the introduction of Choi’s impeachment motion during a plenary session. Acting President Han Duck-soo accepted Choi’s resignation approximately 20 minutes later.
Choi had been attending the plenary session for the supplementary budget bill deliberations. After news of his resignation broke, he left the Assembly hall without responding to reporters’ questions.
In a message distributed to reporters, Choi stated, “I apologize to the people for having to resign from my duties in these challenging economic times.”
The impeachment motion against Choi, initiated by the Democratic Party, was filed on March 21 and reported to the plenary session on April 2. It was subsequently referred to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
The grounds for impeachment were that Choi, while serving as acting president, had infringed upon the National Assembly’s authority by not appointing Ma Eun-hyeok, a nominee for Constitutional Court Justice, despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling.
The Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a hearing on April 16 to investigate the impeachment case of Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok but concluded without adopting a report on the findings.
Following the declaration of a state of emergency in December of last year and the subsequent impeachment of both former President Yoon Suk Yeol and Acting President Han Duck-soo, Choi served as acting president for 88 days.
During his time as acting president, he concurrently held four roles: acting prime minister, minister of economy and finance, head of the “economic control tower,” and head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. His performance was praised for maintaining stability in national affairs.
However, his decision to appoint only two out of three Constitutional Court Justice nominees recommended by the National Assembly drew criticism from both the ruling and opposition parties, ultimately leading to the impeachment motion in the National Assembly.
After the Constitutional Court dismissed the impeachment motion against Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in March, Choi returned to his role as the economic chief, focusing on resolving economic issues, including the “2+2 trade consultations” between South Korea and the United States.
However, with the passage of the 13.8 trillion won supplementary budget in the National Assembly on May 1, Choi concluded his 1 year and 4 months as the nation’s economic control tower.
With both Han Duck-soo and Choi Sang-mok resigning on the same day, the acting presidency has fallen to Lee Ju-ho, deputy prime minister and minister of education, the fourth in line of succession within the cabinet. This marks an unprecedented “acting president of an acting president of an acting president” situation in South Korean constitutional history.
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