South Korean Parliament Dismisses President Yoon
A rally calling for the impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol, Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 14, 2024. X/ @rapplerdotcom
December 14, 2024 Hour: 7:31 am
The motion was supported by lawmakers from his own party.
On Saturday, the South Korean Parliament approved the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol for declaring martial law on September 3. The motion was supported by lawmakers from the president’s own party.
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All 300 members of the National Assembly participated in the process, which resulted in 204 votes in favor of the motion presented by the opposition to remove Yoon, 85 votes against, three abstentions, and eight invalid ballots.
At least 200 votes were required to achieve a two-thirds majority in the chamber. Although the vote was secret, it is clear that at least 12 lawmakers from the conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP) must have supported the impeachment, as the opposition parties together hold a total of 192 seats.
Uncertainty about the outcome persisted until the end, with the PPP holding a closed-door meeting for hours to decide its official stance. The meeting concluded just minutes before the vote with an announcement that the party would officially oppose the motion. However, the vote count revealed that not all PPP lawmakers followed this official position—seven members had already publicly stated they would vote in favor of removing Yoon.
Following the vote, Yoon was stripped of his duties, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has assumed the role of acting head of state and government. This arrangement will remain in place until the Constitutional Court decides, within a maximum of 180 days, whether Yoon violated the Constitution when he declared martial law on September 3.
If the Constitutional Court rules against him, Yoon would become the second sitting president in South Korea’s democratic history to be removed from office. The first was Park Geun-hye, another conservative leader, who was ousted and imprisoned in 2017 over a complex corruption scandal.
In 2004, liberal president Roh Moo-hyun was also impeached by the Parliament for an alleged violation of election laws, but the Constitutional Court reinstated him two months later.
Outside the National Assembly in Seoul, thousands of people gathered to demand Yoon’s removal celebrated the vote’s outcome, waving light sticks commonly used at K-pop concerts, which have become a symbol of these protests.
“We have achieved a historic victory for democracy thanks to all who gathered in front of the National Assembly and passionately defended the Constitution and democracy,” said Park Chan-dae, parliamentary spokesperson for the opposition Democratic Party (DP), in remarks reported by the Yonhap news agency following the approval of the motion.
Yoon has been barred from leaving the country, along with other members of his cabinet, including former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who remains in pretrial detention. High-ranking military and police officials are also under investigation for alleged crimes, including mutiny, abuse of power, and insurrection.
The charge of insurrection is the most severe, as it could lead to Yoon’s arrest. Even presidential immunity does not apply in cases of insurrection, a crime punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty for those deemed leaders of the uprising. (South Korea has maintained a moratorium on the death penalty since 1997.)
teleSUR/ JF Source: Xinhua
