Crisis in South Korea: President Yoon Suk Yeol was dismissed

Of the total of 300 deputies in the chamber, 204 voted in favor of impeaching the president for insurrection, while 85 voted againstaccording to the results announced by the presidency of the chamber. Likewise, there were three abstentions and eight null votes in this new motion of censure, successful after a first one presented on December 7 by the opposition and which did not succeed.

The dismissal of Yoon Suk Yeol, awaiting the South Korean public

at least 200,000 protesters, according to the police, gathered in front of Parliament awaiting the resultand they burst out with joy when they met him, as AFP journalists saw at the scene. In another part of the capital Seoulsome 30,000 people gathered to support the president.

“Today’s impeachment is a great victory for the people and democracy,” congratulated Park Chan-dae, leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party. Yoon is now suspended, waiting for the Constitutional Court to validate or not his dismissal. You have 180 days to do so.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo becomes acting president of the country. The leader quickly promised to exercise “stable governance.” If the Court confirms his dismissal, Yoon Suk Yeol will be the second president in the history of South Korea to end like this, after the Park Geun-hye case in 2017.

However, there is also a precedent in which the impeachment approved by Parliament was invalidated two months later by the Constitutional Court, that of President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004.

President Yoon, 63 years old and with low popularity levels, surprised the country by announcing the imposition of martial law on the night of December 3 and sending the army to Parliament to prevent deputies from meeting.

The president, engaged in a struggle with the opposition over the budget, accused the opposition of behaving like “anti-state forces,” and said that he intended with this extreme measure to protect the country from the “threats” of the communist north.

The decision sparked a movement of anger, with thousands of protesters immediately mobilizing and confronting the military at the doors of Parliament. The deputies managed to meet and in a matter of hours they overturned martial law with their vote.

From star prosecutor to unpopular and impeached president in South Korea: who was Yoon Suk Yeol

Born in Seoul in 1960 months before a military coup, Yoon studied law and ended up becoming a famous prosecutor with a crusade against corruption. He played a providential role in the conviction for abuse of power of Park Geun-hye, the first South Korean president imprisoned and deposed in 2016.

As attorney general, In 2019, he also prosecuted the top adviser to Park’s successor, Moon Jae-in, in a fraud and bribery case.. To the conservative People Power Partyin the opposition at the time, liked his profile and convinced him to be their presidential candidate.

He won the March 2022 elections against Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Partybut by the narrowest margin in the country’s history. Yoon never enjoyed much public esteem, especially from women after campaigning to eliminate the Ministry of Gender Equality.

Voters attribute the food inflation, economic lethargy and restrictions on freedom of expression. They also accuse him of abusing presidential vetoes, such as when he paralyzed a law who sought to investigate his wife, Kim Keon Hee, for stock market manipulation.

As president, he showed a firm stance toward North Korea, in a race to acquire a nuclear arsenal, and further deepened relations with Seoul’s traditional ally, the United States. But his efforts to improve relations with former colonial power Korea, Japanthey didn’t go down well.