Thousands of South Korean citizens and residents poured into the streets of Seoul, capital of the Euroasian country, in celebration of the impeachment of the President, Yoon Suk Yeol.
The country’s parliamentary Ministers voted on Saturday morning, December 14, 2024 to impeach Yoon over the martial law he foisted on South Korea.
The Daily Crucible reports that Yoon will be suspended while the prime minister will serve as acting president and in the ensuing situation, the constitutional court now has six months to rule on the impeachment.
A total of 204 MPs approved the motion to impeach Yoon, who plunged the country into political turmoil with a short-lived martial law declaration last week
Yoon escaped an impeachment vote last weekend, clinging to power, despite mounting calls for him to step down.
The vote was done by secret ballot, with two-thirds of the votes required for impeachment. All 300 members of the assembly cast their ballots.
Audible gasps were heard from the chamber as the result of the voting was announced. Outside, thousands of protesters greeted the announcement with applause and loud cheers.
In a statement following the vote, Yoon vowed to do his best for his country “until the end”.
“Although I am pausing for now, my journey for the future with the people over the past two and a half years shouldn’t stop,” Yoon said in a public address recorded at his residence.
“I will carry with me all the criticisms, encouragement and support I have received, and I will do my best for the nation until the end”.
Feelers revealed that the mood in Seoul is “sombre” after the vote as the political impasse seemed not yet over with the president vowing to fight his case before the country’s court.
“But as far as the opposition and this assembly is concerned, they have not achieved what they’ve set out to do,” an observer said.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is taking over as the interim president.
He in a statement, Han vowed to that he “will devote all my strength and efforts to ensure stable governance.”
The Constitutional Court would then have 180 days to rule on Yoon’s future. If it backs his removal, Yoon would become the second president in South Korean history to be successfully impeached.
Park Geun-hye, another conservative president, was impeached in December 2016 and was removed from office in March 2017.
President Yoon Suk Yeol has been prohibited from leaving the country, according to the Justice Ministry, amid an investigation into his declaration of martial law last week.
After his martial law declaration, Yoon remained unapologetic as investigations into his inner circle widened.
Since then, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon has urged the party to participate in the voting process, although the official stance of the party rejects Yoon’s impeachment.
Ahead of the vote, at least seven PPP members said they would vote to impeach Yoon, meaning only one more vote was required to reach the 200 necessary for impeachment.
An estimated 200,000 people took to the streets in the capital, Seoul, in rival rallies for and against Yoon hours before the impeachment vote.
According to Al Jazeera, the “protesters came out for a historic moment, and a historic moment they got.”
“The uncertainty the South Koreans have had to live with in the past two weeks is still the same uncertainty the lies ahead,” our correspondent added, noting the protracted political fight after the impeachment.
“This is a significant moment. But I don’t think anyone is under any false pretense that the battle ahead is done.”
At the opening of the National Assembly meeting, Speaker Woo Won-shik declared that “the weight of history” was in the hands of the assembly members.
Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, declared that “Yoon is the ringleader of the insurrection”.
He added that the impeachment vote was the “only way” to “safeguard the constitution” of South Korea.
Yoon has remained unapologetic and defiant as the fallout from his martial law declaration deepened and an investigation into his inner circle widened.
His approval rating – never very high – has plummeted to 11 percent, according to a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday. An earlier survey conducted in November showed him having an approval rating of 19 percent just ahead of the martial law declaration.
The same poll showed that 75 percent of people now support his impeachment.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
