South Korea’s president has said he will “not give up” after his country’s parliament voted to impeach him over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s decision earlier this month plunged the country into a constitutional crisis as soldiers clashed with protesters on the streets of the capital Seoul.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have braved the bitter cold and poured onto the streets of the city every night for the past two weeks, calling for Mr Yoon’s removal and arrest.
The state of emergency after he declared martial law only lasted about six hours as parliament voted to block the decree.
Mr Yoon later apologised and survived a first impeachment vote after members of his People Power Party (PPP) boycotted it.
However, ahead of today’s vote seven PPP members said publicly that they intended to back impeachment, with party leader Han Dong-hoon urging them to do so.
The country’s opposition parties needed two-thirds of the National Assembly to back the motion today, meaning at least 200 MPs.
The assembly passed the second impeachment motion in a 204-85 vote.
After parliament passed the bill, Mr Yoon said he will “not give up” and will do his best for the country “until the last minute”.
He also asked public officials to do their best to “safeguard public safety and happiness”.
Impeachment refers to when a public official, in this case a president, is charged with misconduct by a legislative body such as parliament.
Following the result of today’s vote, Mr Yoon will be suspended from presidential duties while the Constitutional Court has 180 days to decide whether to restore him or remove him from office.
If he is thrown out of office, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has been appointed acting president after today’s vote.
Mr Yoon has separately been placed under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over the martial law declaration.
Why did Mr Yoon try and impose martial law?
In his martial law announcement on 3 December, the conservative Mr Yoon said there was a need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces”, a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament.
Since taking office in 2022, he has had near-constant friction with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party.
After declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of troops and police officers to the parliament to try to impede its vote on the decree before they withdrew after the parliament rejected it. No major violence occurred.
Opposition parties and many experts say that by law a president in South Korea is only allowed to declare martial law during wartime or similar emergencies and has no rights to suspend parliament’s operations even under martial law.
