The opposition-led National Assembly has passed a motion to impeach Acting President Han Duck-soo.
 
In a plenary session at the National Assembly on Friday, 192 lawmakers out of the 192 in attendance voted for a motion to impeach Han, while none were opposed. This is out of a total of 300 registered representatives.

The ruling People Power Party boycotted the vote, and exited the floor. The ruling party lawmakers staged a protest right outside the plenary hall. 

Prime Minister Han had been acting president for nearly two weeks since the parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 14 for his failed martial law attempt.

The impeachment motion accused Han, in his role as acting president, of rejecting special counsel probes targeting Yoon's December 3 martial law decree and allegations surrounding First Lady Kim Keon-hee, as well as refusing to appoint Constitutional Court Justices.

The motion also accused Han, as prime minister, of acting as a willing or silent accomplice of insurrection in reference to the December 3 martial law attempt. 

The procedure for impeaching Han remains contentious. The PPP had claimed that a motion to impeach an acting president needs the participation of two-thirds of standing lawmakers to meet the quorum, while the DP insisted that a simple majority of 151 votes are sufficient since Han is serving in his capacity as prime minister.

After Speaker Woo Won-shik announced shortly  before the vote that a simple majority of 151 votes was sufficient to impeach Han, ruling People Power Party lawmakers staged a protest surrounding the podium while opposition lawmakers started to cast their ballots. After boycotting the motion, they exited shortly after they began counting the votes.