1. Choi Sang-mok is a South Korean politician who served as the acting president and acting prime minister of South Korea from December 2024 to March 2025, following the impeachment of Han Duck-soo, which was overturned by the Constitutional Court.
13 Facts About Choi Sang-mok
1. 2.
Choi Sang-mok was born on 7 June 1963 in Seoul, South Korea.
3.
Choi Sang-mok enlisted in the Army on 13 October 1986 after being adjudicated as a six-month National Guard, as he was the only male heir of his father.
4.
Choi Sang-mok served as an administrative soldier in the Army Headquarters Command Office, and was demobilized as a private on 12 April 1987.
5.
Choi Sang-mok returned to the Ministry of Finance and was promoted to vice minister and served as the first vice minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance until May 2017, when the Moon Jae-in government took office.
6.
Choi Sang-mok was one of Yoon's conservative loyalists, but openly opposed Yoon's martial law plan.
7.
Choi Sang-mok ordered an emergency review of South Korea's aircraft operation systems.
8.
On 31 December 2024, Choi Sang-mok appointed Chung Kyesun and Cho Hanchang to the Constitutional Court of Korea as part of efforts to fill vacancies in the court, an issue that contributed to Han's impeachment when he refused to fill three vacancies in the chamber.
9.
The appointments were criticised by both the ruling People Power Party, which opposed him making any appointments to the court at all, and the opposition Democratic Party, which cited his refusal to appoint a third nominee, Ma Eun-hyuk, which Choi Sang-mok based on the lack of bipartisan support for the latter's nomination.
10.
Choi Sang-mok vetoed a revised version of the bill in January 2025, citing lack of bipartisan consensus, and another bill in March that sought to investigate Yoon over an influence-peddling scandal during a parliamentary by-election in 2022.
11.
On 21 March 2025, the DPK and four other opposition parties submitted a motion in the National Assembly to impeach Choi Sang-mok, citing his refusal to appoint justices to the Constitutional Court.
12.
The petitioners charged Choi Sang-mok with abetting Yoon's martial law declaration in December 2024, failing to appoint a National Assembly-backed independent prosecutor to look into possible insurrection by Yoon despite the legislature passing a resolution to do so, and failing to act on the application of a nominee to the Supreme Court of Korea.
13.
Choi Sang-mok's departure reduced the number of members in the governing cabinet to 14, below the minimum 15 needed for it to convene under the constitution.