South Korea’s parliament has voted to impeach the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, almost two weeks after his short-lived declaration of martial law plunged the country into its worst political crisis for decades.
In dramatic scenes at the national assembly in Seoul, 204 lawmakers voted for an opposition motion to impeach Yoon, while an estimated 200,000 protesters outside demanded he be thrown out of office.
Saturday was the second opportunity in a week the assembly’s lawmakers had to begin the process of ousting Yoon, whose approval ratings have plummeted to 11%.
To succeed, the opposition parties, which together control 192 seats, needed at least eight members of Yoon’s People Power party (PPP) to vote in favour to reach the required two-thirds majority of 200 in the 300-seat chamber.
In the end, 12 PPP members were willing to throw their support behind impeachment.
South Korean TV said 85 MPs had voted against, while three ballots were spoilt and eight were ruled invalid. Huge cheers erupted outside the chamber as the results were announced, and MPs left to applause from onlookers.
Yoon, who was immediately suspended, called on South Koreans to support the acting president, Han Duck-soo, but vowed to continue fighting for his political future as the impeachment process enters its next stage.
“Although I am stopping for now, the journey I have walked with the people over the past two and a half years toward the future must never come to a halt. I will never give up,” Yoon said in a televised address.
Han promised to ensure stability after Yoon’s impeachment. “I will give all my strength and efforts to stabilise the government,” he told reporters.
The spotlight will now move to the country’s constitutional court, whose six justices must vote unanimously in favour to uphold parliament’s decision.
Yoon will now be suspended from office while the court deliberates. It has 180 days to rule on Yoon’s future. If it approves the motion, South Koreans must elect a new president within 60 days of its ruling.
On the eve of the vote the opposition Democratic party leader, Lee Jae-myung, implored PPP lawmakers to side with the people “wailing out in the freezing streets”. “History will remember and record your choice,” Lee said.
Crowds braving the bitter cold outside the national assembly building erupted in celebration as the result was announced. Some people – many of them young South Koreans – danced, sang, exchanged hugs and waved K-pop light sticks, which have quickly become a symbol of resistance.
“I’m so happy I have no words,” said a 25-year-old woman who identified herself as Yuri. “I was so worried the People Power party would not vote in favour of the motion. I’m so glad some of them had common sense. But I can’t believe that so many didn’t vote in favour. It’s shameful.”
Park Ka-hyun, 23, said: “I’m so proud of what we have achieved. Look how many people have come. We are just so happy.”
Yoon, a conservative whose two and a half years in office have been blighted by scandal and policy gridlock, shocked the world on 3 December when he imposed martial law after darkness.
The edict would have suspended all political activity, banned protests, suspended the legal process and curtailed press freedoms, while police and troops would have been responsible for enforcing the order.
Yoon, however, was forced to reverse his decision just six hours later after lawmakers voted unanimously to overturn it, in defiance of hundreds of troops who had been sent to the parliament building with orders to prevent MPs from meeting.
Last weekend an initial impeachment motion failed after all but three of Yoon’s People Power party MPs boycotted the vote, leaving the chamber short of the minimum number of votes to pass the motion.
The political fallout from Yoon’s declaration has shaken confidence in South Korean politics, with Saturday’s vote seen inside the country and beyond as a test of its lawmakers’ commitment to protect the democratic gains it has made in the decades since the end of military rule.
Yoon, who this week insisted he would not resign over the debacle, said he was imposing martial law to root out what he condemned, without offering evidence, as “pro-North Korean, anti-state” forces inside parliament that were determined to paralyse the government.
His move drew immediate criticism, including from members of his own party, while the uncertainty of the past 12 days has rattled financial markets and caused concern in the US, the South’s biggest ally, Japan and the UK.
The change of heart among PPP lawmakers was critical to Yoon’s fate. His fellow party members had initially appeared unwilling to impeach him. Analysts believe they were hoping to arrange a more orderly exit instead.
That, though, proved impossible after Yoon, in a televised address this week, vowed to fight attempts to remove him “until the very end” and justified his imposition of martial law as a legitimate “act of governance”.
Opposition parties and many experts have accused Yoon of fomenting rebellion, citing a law clause that categorises as rebellion the staging of a riot against established state authorities to undermine the constitution.
Yoon has been banned from leaving South Korea, as law enforcement authorities investigate whether he and others involved in the martial law declaration committed rebellion, abuse of power and other crimes. If convicted, the leader of a rebellion plot can face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
