The South Korean president has been impeached by the opposition-led National Assembly, which voted to suspend him from his official duties over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law earlier this month.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s political fate now lies in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which has six months to decide whether to remove him from office.
Last weekend, Yoon’s minority party prevented a previous impeachment vote, which requires a two-thirds majority, by boycotting the vote and preventing a quorum. The vote would have needed eight defections out of the 108 seats they hold.
On Dec. 14 however, with a shift in political mood over the week, there were enough defections to pass the motion, by a margin of 204–85 in the 300-seat assembly, reported Yonhap. There were three abstentions and eight invalid ballots.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was appointed by Yoon, takes over as acting president.
The vote suspends Yoon’s powers until a decision is made by the Constitutional Court, but in the meantime he remains officially in office. He retains presidential immunity from most charges except for insurrection or treason.
The president’s party, the People Power Party (PPP) officially opposed the impeachment.
However, on Dec. 12, the leader of the party expressed support for impeaching the president, calling on his party’s lawmakers to vote based on their own convictions.
Yoon said he declared martial law as a warning to the opposition Democratic Party, which he accused of sympathizing with North Korea and using its legislative power to impeach top officials and undermine the government’s budget bill for next year.
The martial law declaration and his decision to send troops to the country’s National Assembly does not amount to an insurrection, he said.
“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said. “The opposition is now doing a sword dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes an act of rebellion. But was it really?”
He said the decision to send troops to the country’s parliament was designed to protect order, not dissolve or paralyze it.
Yoon had previously apologised for imposing martial law, saying he would leave his fate to his PPP.
“This declaration stemmed from my sense of urgency as the president, who bears the ultimate responsibility for state affairs,“ Yoon said on Dec. 7. “However, I caused anxiety and inconvenience to the citizens in the process. I feel deeply apologetic and sincerely apologize to the citizens who were greatly alarmed.”
South Korea’s parliament passed a bill on Dec. 10 to appoint a special counsel to investigate Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law, arguing that public prosecutors cannot be trusted to conduct a thorough investigation of Yoon, who was formerly prosecutor-general.
The Justice Ministry has also banned Yoon and eight others from leaving the country as authorities investigate whether their acts amount to rebellion.
The acting president, Han, 75, has served in leadership positions for more than three decades under five different presidents, both conservative and liberal.
Han has served as prime minister under Yoon since 2022, and previously held the role briefly in 2007–2008.
He has also been ambassador to the United States, finance minister, trade minister, and presidential secretary for policy coordination.
