SEOUL — South Korean lawmakers on Saturday impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, with the opposition declaring a “victory of the people”.
The vote capped more than a week of intense political drama in the democratic South following Yoon’s failed attempt to impose martial law on December 3.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Seoul in rival rallies for and against Yoon on Saturday.
In a televised address following the parliamentary vote, the impeached Yoon said he would “step aside” but did not apologise for his botched bid to impose martial law.
Out of 300 lawmakers, 204 voted to impeach the president on allegations of insurrection while 85 voted against. Three abstained, with eight votes nullified.
With the impeachment, Yoon has been suspended from office while South Korea’s Constitutional Court deliberates on the vote.
The court has 180 days to rule on Yoon’s future and Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae vowed to hold “a swift and fair trial”.
If the court backs his removal, Yoon will become the second president in South Korean history to be successfully impeached.
Two hundred votes were needed for the impeachment to pass, and opposition lawmakers needed to convince at least eight parliamentarians from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) to switch sides.
“Today’s impeachment is the great victory of the people,” opposition Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae said following the vote.
PPP lawmaker Kim Sang-wook told broadcaster JTBC that Yoon had “completely betrayed the values of conservatism”.
“That is why we, as ruling party lawmakers, have decided to remove him ourselves,” he said.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo — now the nation’s interim leader — said in an address to the nation that he “deeply acknowledges the heavy responsibility for the current situation” and “sincerely apologises to the people”.
“What is most important right now is that there must not be even the slightest gap in the administration of state affairs,” said Han, who convened a National Security Council late Saturday evening.
Yoon remained unapologetic and defiant as the fallout from his disastrous martial law declaration deepened and an investigation into his inner circle has widened.
His approval rating — never very high — plummeted to 11 per cent, according to a Gallup Korea poll released Friday.
The same poll showed that 75 per cent supported his impeachment.
Following Yoon’s impeachment, a spokeswoman for the European Union called for a “swift and orderly resolution” to the political crisis in line with South Korea’s constitution.
