South Korean lawmakers on Saturday voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol in a second impeachment motion, amid ongoing investigations into allegations of rebellion linked to his controversial martial law decree issued on December 3.
The floor vote saw participation from all 300 members of the South Korean parliament, with 204 lawmakers voting in favor of impeachment. The impeachment required 200 votes for approval.
Earlier last week on Saturday, President Yoon narrowly survived an impeachment vote, as most members of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the session.
However, public protests against his leadership have escalated, with his approval rating falling sharply as thousands of people took to the streets of Seoul in competing rallies both supporting and opposing him.
South Korea’s legislative assembly initiated discussions regarding an impeachment motion, following an unsuccessful attempt the previous week to dismiss Yoon over the martial law controversy.
Also read: Who is Yoon Suk Yeol? South Korean president impeached by MPs
Martial law lasted only six hours
Yoon Suk Yeol’s controversial martial law decree, the first of its kind in over 40 years, lasted only six hours but has sparked massive political upheaval, stalled diplomatic activities, and rattled financial markets.
Yoon was forced to lift the decree after the South Korean parliament unanimously voted to overturn it.
In the wake of declaring martial law, Yoon deployed hundreds of troops and police officers to the parliament in an attempt to block its vote on the decree, though they withdrew after the parliament rejected it.
Earlier in a speech on Thursday, Yoon denied the charges of rebellion, defending his martial law order as an act of governance. The conservative president claimed that his move was aimed at sending a warning to the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which he accused of being “a monster” and “anti-state forces.”
“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.
In response, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung labeled Yoon’s speech as a “mad declaration of war” against the people of South Korea.
Yoon second president to be impeached
After the motion’s approval, the Constitutional Court will evaluate whether to restore Yoon’s position or permanently remove him. Yoon becomes the second president to face removal, after Park Geun-hye’s dismissal in 2017.
Park Geun-hye, who assumed presidency in 2013, faced parliamentary impeachment, which the Constitutional Court upheld in March 2017, resulting in her prosecution and subsequent imprisonment.
She also encountered accusations of distributing classified information, maintaining a register of artists who criticised her policies, and terminating officials who challenged her decisions.