South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces the greatest threat to his brief but chequered political career, with his fate in the hands of judges after some of his allies turned from him and voted to impeach him on Saturday for allegedly leading an insurrection.
Regarded as a tough political survivor but increasingly isolated, he has been dogged by personal scandals and strife, an unyielding opposition and rifts within his own party.
South Korea’s opposition-led National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon on Saturday — with the motion reportedly passing 204 to 85 votes — over , a move that shocked the nation and split his party.
Yoon’s presidential powers are suspended but he remains in office, retaining his immunity from most charges except for insurrection or treason. Yoon-appointed Prime Minister Han Duck-soo takes over as acting president.
Yoon is separately under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over the martial law declaration and authorities have banned him from travelling overseas.
Massive rallies have been held calling for the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment in recent days. Source: AAP / Lee Jin-man/AP
He has not signalled a willingness to resign and in a speech on Thursday vowed he would “fight to the end”, defending his martial law decree as necessary to overcome political deadlock and protect the country from domestic politicians who he said were undermining democracy.
The Constitutional Court must decide within 180 days whether to remove Yoon from office or reject the impeachment and restore his powers. If the court removes Yoon or he resigns, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
A second impeachment vote
Opposition parties launched Saturday’s fresh impeachment vote, with large demonstrations taking place ahead of the vote.
Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the
Ahead of Saturday’s vote, PPP lawmakers met and affirmed their stance to still oppose impeachment, but said party members were free to participate in the vote this time.
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon has urged party members to vote for impeachment this time.
Ahn Cheol-soo, a PPP lawmaker backing Yoon’s impeachment, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he would vote for impeachment “for the sake of swift stabilization of people’s livelihood, economy and diplomacy”.
The main opposition Democratic Party said on Saturday that Yoon’s “madness” could no longer be tolerated.
“Refusing impeachment is treason against the people,” the party said in a statement, asking more from the ruling party to join the impeachment.
