South Korea’s President Yoon removed from office over martial law decree

Al Jazeera

South Korea’s Constitutional Court has unanimously voted to remove President Yoon Suk-yeol over his declaration of martial law late last year.

As he read the verdict in court on Friday morning, acting chief justice Moon Hyung-bae dismissed each of Yoon’s reasons for declaring martial law and said the president had overstepped his authority by deploying troops on the streets of the capital in December.

“The defendant mobilised military and police forces to dismantle the authority of constitutional institutions and infringed upon the fundamental rights of the people. In doing so, he abandoned his constitutional duty to uphold the constitution and gravely betrayed the trust of the Korean people,” Moon said.

“Such unlawful and unconstitutional conduct constitutes an act that cannot be tolerated under the constitution,” the justice continued.

“The negative consequences and ripple effects of these actions are substantial, and the benefit of restoring constitutional order through removal from office outweighs the national costs associated with the dismissal of a sitting president,” he said.

The opposition Democratic Party described the verdict as a “people’s victory”, while Yoon’s ruling People Power Party said it “humbly accepts” the court’s ruling, according to South Korean official Yonhap News Agency.

Following the verdict, Democratic Party chairman Lee Jae-myung said the “great people of the nation” helped reclaim democracy, and extended his “deepest respect and gratitude” to protesters who had stood in front of tanks and armoured vehicles after Yoon declared martial law on December 3.

Yoon claimed at the time that anti-state and North Korean forces had infiltrated the government, but senior military and police officials who were sent to shut down the country’s National Assembly have testified that he ordered them to detain rival politicians and prevent the assembly from voting to lift his military rule order.