South Korean lawmakers impeach President Yoon over failed martial legislation bid

SEOUL, South Korea — It was game over for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Saturday, after his powers were suspended by a bipartisan impeachment vote in the National Assembly in central Seoul.

Some 204 lawmakers in the 300-seat legislature, including 12 from Mr. Yoon’s own party, secured the two-thirds majority required for the conservative president’s impeachment. Saturday’s process was the culmination of 10 days of chaos and division here following Mr. Yoon’s stunning short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec 3.

“The earnestness, courage and dedication the people showed for democracy led to this decision,” National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said after the vote.

The president, whose five-year term runs through 2027, remained defiant over what he called a “temporary” pause in his presidency, but a huge roar of approval went up from protesters outside the building when the result was announced.

“It is frustrating to think that all past efforts have been in vain,” Mr. Yoon said in a post-vote message, referring to his presidency, which commenced in 2022. He added, “I will never give up.”

Saturday’s result could bring a measure of calm to the troubled capital. It took place amid nationwide protests over Mr. Yoon’s shock decision, even in traditionally conservative strongholds in South Korea’s southeast.

An estimated 200,000 people gathered as the vote was being cast. So vast were crowds outside the Assembly building that nearby subway stations were closed. That did not deter many Seoul residents from gathering in freezing temperatures.

The road outside Mr. Yoon’s compound was lined with unusual decor: countless funeral wreaths. Some were placed by supporters lamenting his fate, others by opponents, in a psychological pressure tactic.

Action on whether to remove Mr. Yoon from office now moves to the Constitutional Court, which has ample precedent: Two of Mr. Yoon’s predecessors were impeached — a failed attempt in 2004 and the 2016 impeachment that ousted former President Park Geun-hye,

But the nine-judge panel currently has three vacancies, and constitutional experts told foreign reporters that they expect it to take the case only with a full complement of judges, who are appointed by the Assembly.

The court has up to 180 days to decide whether impeachment stands. During that period, a caretaker administration led by Mr. Yoon’s prime minister, Han Duck-soo, will be in place. If impeachment is upheld, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.

“I will devote all my strength and efforts to ensure stable governance,” Mr. Han told reporters shortly after Saturday’s vote.

A ’desperate’ move

But the crisis has raised new questions over the state of democratic governance in a U.S. ally that has strategic, industrial, technological and even pop cultural import for the wider world.

Mr. Yoon declared martial law late in a late-night address on Dec. 3, admitting he was “desperate.” The opposition-controlled assembly had stymied his budget proposals and impeached a number of his nominees.

Special forces moved to seize the National Assembly, the National Electoral Commission and even a prominent opposition pollster and media figure. South Korea achieved democracy after decades of struggle in 1987, and personal and institutional memory of authoritarian rule remains strong.

Demonstrations erupted, and a botched deployment of halfhearted commandos failed to prevent lawmakers from a range of parties from gathering and voting down martial law by unanimous vote: 190-0.

It lasted just three hours. Not a single injury or death was reported.

Subsequently, sinister aspects of the plan — such as a detention camp for Mr. Yoon’s opponents — have come to light. Wilder allegations — that a strike had been considered on North Korea to justify martial law, and that a secret, “black operations” unit had deployed in plain clothes outside the Assembly — remain unproven.

Opposition parties drew up an impeachment motion, but the vote, one week ago, fell short when lawmakers from Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party boycotted the session when the vote was called.

The PPP hedged back and forth, but the willingness of some of its members to support the second impeachment effort suggests they had succumbed to overwhelming opinion.

Those targeted by Mr. Yoon’s original order praised the vote.

“It’s a bit late, but I am relieved,” said Choi Jong-kun, presidential secretary to the prior, left-leaning president, Moon Jae-in, praising the popular rejection of the martial law plan.

“We have a sound and healthy democratic resilience,” he said. “Basically, we had a wrongful-minded president who was delusional, who committed a self-coup, and we nullified it with two weeks of civic resistance.”

Questions ahead

Despite the vote, South Korea faces an uncertain future.

The crisis had dealt a body blow to South Korea’s right wing. Mr. Yoon is the second consecutive conservative president to be impeached.

“There are going to be a lot of PPP members in serious legal trouble, and the party risks fracturing and being obliterated in the near term,” said Mason Richey who teaches international relations at Seoul’s Hankook University of Foreign Studies.

The crisis also shines a light on a deeply polarized political culture, one the impeached president referred to in his post-vote message.

“I ask that we improve our political culture and system so that politics can shift from reckless confrontation to thoughtful deliberation and consideration,” Mr. Yoon said.

The record of the last five administrations is sobering: Three presidents have been impeached. One ex-president has committed suicide, two others have been jailed.

“My first thought is that impeachment should be rare in a democracy, not commonplace,” said Park Dong-suk, a retired businessman. “Overall we can say this was a victory for the people, but I think it hurts Korea’s reputation.”

“We can with confidence predict deepening polarization,” added Mr. Richey. “And that is going to produce further acts of mis-governance.”

Meanwhile, the policy of the incoming Donald Trump administration toward a U.S. ally sited at a strategic geographical junction where China, North Korea and Russia meet is not fully formulated. Washington’s new policymakers will be unlikely to invest in building tight relationships with Seoul’s caretaker government.

“We are entering a period of limbo and uncertainty, and the Constitutional Court’s clock has not started ticking yet,” said Dan Pinkston, an international relations expert at Troy University. “There is only so much bandwidth in Washington and South Korea is down the agenda list. I think there will be autopilot, cruise control.”

South Korea’s diplomats met with ambassadors from the U.S., China and Japan to explain the situation, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding the country’s foreign policy based on its alliance with Washington was unchanged by Saturday’s vote.

But the risk lies in a sudden crisis on the flashpoint peninsula.

“Senior South Korean officers are facing investigation and the longer that takes, the more uncertainty there will be,” Mr. Pinkston said. “Will adversaries look at this situation as something that can be exploited?”