Who is Han Duck-soo, South Korea's PM who returns as acting leader?

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was reinstated on Monday as South Korea's acting president, is a technocrat whose experience and reputation as a safe pair of hands transcended party lines and helped him serve in senior posts under five presidents.

Known as a seasoned economic, trade and foreign affairs specialist, Han, 75, was serving the second stint as the head of cabinet, when he became acting president on December 14 after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached by parliament for leading a short-lived martial law.

Two weeks later, Han himself was impeached after being accused of aiding Yoon in the martial law declaration and his powers suspended. He denied this but accepted some responsibility for the ensuing crisis by failing to dissuade Yoon from making the surprise move.

On Monday, the Constitutional Court overturned his impeachment, restoring his powers to serve as leader while the country awaits the same court's ruling on Yoon's impeachment.

In a country sharply divided by partisan rhetoric, Han has been a rare example of an official who has sought to stay out of the political fray.

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«It is my life's honour that I have been able to serve the people with all my might,» Han said after parliament voted to impeach him.

Earlier, when he stepped into the acting presidency, he faced the challenge of keeping government functioning through its gravest political crisis in four decades, while also tackling threats from nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea, and a slowing economy at home.

It is the same daunting responsibility he returns to but with external pressure on the export-reliant economy much more intense under the threat of higher tariffs for its products to the United States under the second