South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached Saturday by the opposition-led parliament over his brief attempt to impose martial law, a move that stunned the nation and divided his party.
The impeachment passed with 204 votes in the 300-member National Assembly, clearing the two-thirds threshold required. At least 12 members of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party joined opposition law
makers in supporting the motion. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, appointed by Yoon, will serve as acting president while Yoon’s presidential powers are suspended pending a Constitutional Court review.
“I will devote all my efforts to maintaining stability in the government,” Han said after the vote.
Yoon, the second conservative president in South Korea to face impeachment in recent years, follows the ouster of Park Geun-hye in 2017. The Constitutional Court will decide within six months whether to formally remove him from office, triggering a snap presidential election if upheld.
The impeachment follows Yoon’s Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, which granted sweeping emergency powers to the military to counter what he described as “anti-state forces” and obstructive political opponents. Parliament swiftly defied the decree, forcing Yoon to rescind it just six hours later. The incident plunged South Korea into a constitutional crisis and sparked widespread criticism, with opposition parties and public demonstrations demanding his resignation.
Protesters celebrated the impeachment outside the National Assembly on Saturday, waving LED lights and dancing to music. A nearby rally of Yoon’s supporters quickly dispersed after the news broke.
Yoon apologized for the martial law decree but defended it as necessary to protect democracy. He resisted calls to step down, vowing in a speech Thursday to “fight to the end” against political opponents he accused of undermining the nation.
The impeachment vote comes amid a separate criminal investigation into Yoon’s alleged insurrection over the martial law declaration. Authorities have also barred him from traveling abroad.
With 85 votes against impeachment, three abstentions, and eight invalid ballots, Saturday’s vote marks a decisive shift in South Korea’s volatile political landscape. As the Constitutional Court deliberates, the government faces heightened uncertainty under Han’s interim leadership.
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