South Korean president removed from office

A South Korean court has removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office after he was impeached for a botched declaration of martial law.

The country’s constitutional court unanimously upheld the impeachment of Mr Yoon, who was arrested in January on charges of insurrection after he attempted and failed to impose martial law.

His Dec 3 martial law decree lasted six hours as it was voted down by lawmakers, but it plunged the normally stable democracy into its worst political crisis in decades.

The verdict requires the country to hold a snap election within 60 days to determine Mr Yoon’s successor, likely to fall in early June.

Mr Yoon was impeached over the failed coup in December by the country’s opposition-controlled National Assembly, where chaos erupted as the president sent troops into the governing chamber to stop politicians from voting down the decree.

Large crowds of Mr Yoon’s supporters and detractors gathered to watch the ruling handed down by acting court chief Moon Hyung-bae on live television, with some waving Korean and American flags.

In the ruling, Mr Moon said Mr Yoon’s “violations of the law are grave, making the benefits of protecting the constitution by dismissing the defendant larger than the national losses from dismissing the president by an overwhelming degree”.

Following the ruling, the country’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, vowed in a televised address to maintain stability and “ensure that there is no vacuum in national security or foreign affairs”, Yonhap News reported.

Mr Yoon’s party, the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said it “humbly accepts” the ruling and underscored the role of the court as “the way to uphold democracy and the rule of law”.

“Though it is regrettable, the PPP solemnly accepts and humbly respects the Constitutional Court’s decision,” Kwon Young-se, the PPP’s interim leader, said.

The opposition Democratic Party hailed the ruling as a “great victory for the people”, and marked it as a “historic day when we defended the constitution and safeguarded democracy against the forces that sought to destroy it”, the party’s senior spokesman, Cho Seung-rae, said.

Mr Yoon’s arrest on insurrection charges is separate to today’s ruling. He is the first South Korean head of state to be detained in a criminal investigation and potentially faces life in prison or the death penalty.

Police stormed the presidential compound in January after a weeks-long standoff between officers and the president’s supporters outside his residence, where Mr Yoon had holed up in defiance of an arrest warrant.

A court in March annulled the warrant, but Mr Yoon will still face trial for the charges.

The turmoil began just before 11pm local time on Dec 3, when the president appeared on television to make a surprise declaration: South Korea was now under military rule.

“As president of the Republic of Korea, I appeal to the nation with a bleeding heart,” Mr Yoon said.

He then went on to blame North Korea and a “den of criminals” within the National Assembly, which he claimed had brought the country to the brink of collapse and was “a monster that destroys the liberal democratic system”.

Mr Yoon had been facing possible impeachment over a number of corruption scandals, including allegations of bribery against his wife over a Dior handbag which he vetoed opposition attempts to investigate.

Thousands of protesters soon poured into the streets, where they were met by members of the country’s security forces. Helicopters circling overhead and tanks blocking the roads did not deter the demonstrators, who gathered outside parliament and defied special forces who were there to enforce the decree.

Those same special forces soon tried to storm parliament, clashing with MPs who had raced to the building and created makeshift barricades inside to block the soldiers, who were breaking windows to stop the functions of government.

Of the country’s 300 MPs, 190 made it to the chamber that night, and two hours and 48 minutes after Mr Yoon’s television appearance, members of his own party were among the majority who voted down the martial law declaration.

MPs and protesters remained in place to ensure that the power grab would really end, and early the next morning, Mr Yoon announced the resolution was cancelled.

The country’s political crisis deepened when, less than two weeks after Mr Yoon was ousted, politicians voted to impeach Mr Han over a perceived failure to bring Mr Yoon to justice over his actions.