South Korea Ousts President over Martial Law Decree, Election Expected in June

The Constitutional Court of South Korea voted to remove impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday, ending a four-month-long drama that began with Yoon abruptly attempting, and failing, to impose martial law on the country.

The Court found that Yoon egregiously violated the South Korean constitution and caused “grave … negative effects” on the country, necessitating his removal. South Korean media reported on Friday that the move will mean that interim President Han Duck-soo will likely remain in office for 60 days and an election for a new president is expected on or around June 3.

Yoon was elected by a narrow margin in 2022 in a bitterly fought race against the head of the leftist opposition party, the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung. Lee has remained the most prominent opposition figure in the country throughout Yoon’s term and is widely expected to be a frontrunner in the next election despite facing widespread corruption allegations. Both Yoon and Lee attracted low approval ratings for much of Yoon’s term in office and Yoon struggled to further his policy goals in the Democrat-controlled National Assembly.

On the night of December 3, Yoon appeared on national television and announced that he would impose military rule on the country in response to the National Assembly blocking conservative bills. He accused the Democrats of collaborating with an alleged North Korean communist plot and threatening the stability of the country to such a degree that Seoul needed to use the military to assert order.

“I declare martial law to protect the Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces, to immediately eradicate the unscrupulous pro-Pyongyang anti-state forces that pillage the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect free constitutional order,” Yoon claimed.

Yoon announced that the martial law would remain in place as long as necessary but, in reality, it lasted only several hours. National Assembly lawmakers ran back to the legislative chambers – defying soldiers Yoon deployed to keep them out – and voted to overturn the martial law decree, ending it before dawn on December 4. Yoon later apologized for the declaration but was both impeached and charged criminally with insurrection, a crime that can carry the death penalty.

The Constitutional Court decreed on Friday that Yoon had done too much harm to the integrity of the constitutional order to return to power.

“The negative effects on the constitutional order and the repercussions from the defendant’s violations of the law are grave,” the chief justice said, “making the benefits of protecting the Constitution by dismissing the defendant overwhelmingly larger than the national losses from dismissing the president.”

“The defendant’s actions in violation of the Constitution and laws are a betrayal of the people’s trust, and from the perspective of protecting the Constitution, a grave violation of the law that cannot be tolerated,” the court declared.

Yoon issued a brief statement after his removal describing being president of the country as a “great honor” and apologizing to the Korean people for not meeting “expectations.” He did not explicitly apologize for imposing military rule.

“I am sincerely grateful to all those who have supported and encouraged me, despite my many shortcomings,” he said in a statement. “I am deeply sorry and regretful for not being able to live up to your expectations.”

Thousands of people assembled in Seoul to await the court’s verdict, both in favor and opposed to impeachment. Yoon supporters, who have adopted American iconography to oppose the Korean left, appeared wearing Donald Trump-inspired “Make America Great Again” hats and, in some cases, waving American flags. The Korea JoongAng Daily reported that they played the Korean military anthem “The Torch for Eradication of Communism” and cried when the verdict was revealed.

“President Yoon will save us from the Chinese takeover, I am sure of it,” one pro-Yoon protester told JoongAng. “These liberals, they stole the election with their help you know? I can’t just look the other away.”

In contrast, those assembling to support impeachment told JoongAng that they had gathered in response to issues irrelevant to the impeachment proceedings, such as protesting the poor jobs market.
“The biggest struggle for young people right now is the economic crisis,” one protester said. JoongAng did not state that the protester offered an explanation for what the “economic crisis” has to do with the martial law declaration.

The Yoon impeachment is the second such proceeding for South Korea in the past three months. Shortly after Yoon’s impeachment, the Democratic Party led the impeachment in the National Assembly of his replacement, interim President Han Duck-soo. The Democrats claimed that Han was moving too slowly on filling the Constitutional Court seats required to impeach Yoon.

Last week, the Constitutional Court dismissed Han’s impeachment, stating that he had no acted so egregiously as to warrant removal.

Han will remain president until the country holds a special presidential election. The Yonhap News Agency detailed on Friday that, during past impeachment cycles, it has taken about 60 days for the government to organize an election.

“By law, a snap election must be held within 60 days after the court ruling,” Yonhap explained. “The law also stipulates that the date for a presidential election must be announced at least 50 days in advance. This leaves an 11-day window for the election from May 24 to June 3, though analysts expect the vote to take place on the last day.”

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