South Korean court reinstates impeached Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as acting president

South Korea's Constitutional Court dismissed the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Monday, reinstating the 75-year-old as acting president while continuing to deliberate on the future of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Han took over the top office in December after Yoon was suspended for his shocking declaration of martial law. He was impeached and removed less than two weeks later, however, for refusing to fill three vacant seats on the Constitutional Court. The opposition Democratic Party also accused Han of abetting Yoon's short-lived martial law attempt.

The court ruled 5-1 to overturn the impeachment Monday, with the majority deciding that Han's actions were not serious enough to warrant his removal. The two remaining justices said that the impeachment was illegitimate from the start because the vote was held without a two-thirds quorum in the National Assembly.

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In an address after the verdict, the veteran bureaucrat vowed steady leadership through a turbulent geopolitical landscape while calling on South Korea to heal its deep political divide.

"If there is one thing we have clearly witnessed and learned over the past few years, it is that a society divided to extremes will only lead to misery and no one's dreams will come true," Han said.

"The ruling and opposition parties and the government must truly change," he added. "I will listen to all the voices I need to hear ... so that South Korea can move forward into an era of rationality and common sense."

The Constitutional Court's decision comes as an increasingly anxious public awaits its ruling on whether to uphold the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The court heard final arguments in the weeks-long trial on Feb. 25 and a decision was widely expected by mid-March, based on the timelines of two previous impeachment proceedings.

It has not yet indicated a verdict date, however, prompting massive protests on both sides of the issue to swell in Seoul and other cities around the country.