South Korean MPs impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday after his failed attempt to impose martial law and have the military muzzle Parliament on December 3. Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the National Assembly exploded with joy when House Speaker Woo Won-shik announced the result of the vote: 204 votes for impeachment, 85 against, 3 abstentions. and 8 invalid ballots.
The impeachment motion needed to receive at least 200 votes out of 300 to pass. The opposition, which has 192 deputies, therefore succeeded in switching 12 of the 108 elected representatives of the People's Power Party (PPP) to its camp. The president is now suspended, awaiting validation of his dismissal by the Constitutional Court within 180 days. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo takes over as interim minister
.60 days for a presidential election
“This is a victory for the people and for democracy,” said Park Chan-dae, the leader of the Democratic Party deputies, the main opposition force, just after the vote. “Yoon Suk Yeol is the biggest risk for the Republic of Korea.”
The Constitutional Court has six months to confirm or overturn Parliament's decision. Three of its nine judges having retired in October without being replaced due to political deadlock, the remaining six will have to make their decision unanimously. If the impeachment is validated, an early presidential election will take place within 60 days.
Not a new case
“My heart is heavy. I will mobilize all my forces (…) to ensure stable governance,” Prime Minister and now interim President Han Duck-soo told reporters.
Yoon Suk Yeol, 63, is the third president in the history of South Korea to be impeached by Parliament, after Park Geun-hye in 2017 and Roh Moo-hyun in 2004. The latter, however, saw his impeachment invalidated by the Constitutional Court two months after its adoption by the deputies.
Defense Minister arrested
On Friday, prosecutors announced the arrest of the head of Seoul's military command, and a court issued arrest warrants for the national police chief and Seoul police chief, citing a “risk of destruction of evidence.” “.
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, considered the person who pushed the president to impose martial law, was the first to be arrested on December 8. He attempted suicide two days later in detention. Yoon Suk Yeol stunned South Korea on the night of December 3 to 4 by establishing martial law, a first in more than four decades in the country, and sending the army to Parliament to try to prevent MPs from meet.
Accusation against parliament
In a hemicycle surrounded by special forces, the deputies still managed to hold an emergency session and vote on a text calling for the abolition of martial law, which the president was constitutionally obliged to obey.
Yoon Suk Yeol, a former prosecutor who entered politics late in life and was elected president in 2022, justified his coup by his desire to “protect liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korean communist forces and eliminate elements hostile to the State”, accusing the Parliament dominated by the opposition of torpedoing all its initiatives and blocking the country.
