Second motion to remove him passes with 204 votes in favour
The measure is in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which will have to approve his dismissal
The South Korean parliament approved this Saturday the motion of impeachment presented against the country’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, for declaring martial law, a measure that was revoked just hours after its decree and that has caused an internal crisis in the country.
The vote was finally concluded with 204 votes in favour of removing Yoon against 85 against, three abstentions and eight null votes, according to information from the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
This is the second motion put to a vote in the country’s National Assembly in a week. On Saturday, the initiative did not obtain the majority necessary to be approved due to the rejection of Yoon’s party, the ruling People’s Power Party, which has 108 seats and whose deputies, however, have distanced themselves from party discipline this Saturday.
In order for the measure to be approved, the support of 200 of the 300 deputies that make up Parliament was necessary – in a vote with the presence of more than half of the parliamentarians.
Yoon, who announced martial law on December 3 in an unexpected speech to the nation in which he accused opposition deputies of sympathizing with North Korea, has thus been disqualified, so his functions are in the hands of Prime Minister Han Duck Soo, until the Constitutional Court rules on his dismissal.
The court has 180 days to do so and, according to the South Korean Constitution, must endorse the measure for it to become effective. To do so, six of the nine judges on the court must vote in favour – although there are currently three vacancies, so the remaining six must give their unanimous support to the dismissal.
Once the Constitutional Court gives its approval, early elections must be called within a period of 60 days. Thus, Yoon would become the second president in the country’s history – along with Park Geun Hye in 2016 – to be dismissed during his term, and the third. Yoon, who has asked for forgiveness for what happened, continues to defend his decision, taken in order to “protect” the country from “forces contrary to the State.” However, the text of this second motion includes accusations against him for giving instructions to the security forces to arrest opposition deputies during the few hours in which martial law was in force, a decision for which several senior officials have already had to apologize, including the former Minister of Defense, who was arrested for his alleged involvement.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor’s Office is continuing its investigations against Yoon and several members of his Cabinet for alleged insurrection and treason, for which he is prohibited from leaving the country.
