Business lobbies express concerns over impeachment-driven uncertainties

South Korea’s business lobby groups expressed grave concerns over growing uncertainties after the opposition-controlled National Assembly voted Friday to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo despite strong opposition by ruling party lawmakers.

Han’s impeachment comes less than two weeks after he took over for President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached on Dec. 14 for his short-lived martial law imposition.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) called on politicians to focus on minimizing the impact of the impeachments on the economy.

“Economic uncertainties have grown bigger (for the country) in the wake of the unprecedented impeachment of an acting president despite stabilizing macroeconomic indicators and external trust in the Korean economy’s resilience (amid the current political turmoil),” a KCCI official said.

He said the impeachment could further weaken the local currency, lower the sovereign credit rating, push up inflation and worsen domestic consumer spending.

The KEF said business circles are seriously concerned over the situation in which the deepening political crisis is weighing on the economy.

It called on political circles to wrap up the chaos triggered by Yoon’s martial law decree on Dec. 3 and the impeachments of the country’s top two officials as quickly as possible to allow people to return to their normal daily lives and companies to focus on their businesses.

On Thursday, Han said he will not appoint three Constitutional Court justices until political parties reach an agreement on the appointments because approval without political consensus will harm constitutional order.