On December 14, the National Assembly of South Korea passed a bill calling for impeaching South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. Yoon has become the third sitting president, after Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye, whose impeachment motion was passed by the National Assembly.
The bill was passed by a vote of 204 in favor, 85 against, and 11 abstentions or invalid votes. Unlike the ruling People Power Party’s decision to neutralize the first impeachment vote on December 7, this time all 108 lawmakers of the PPP attended the extraordinary session held by Woo Won-shik, the speaker of the National Assembly. As 192 lawmakers – including Woo – are opposition members who vowed to impeach Yoon, it seems that 12 lawmakers of the PPP voted for the motion. The 11 non-votes also likely came from PPP lawmakers who did not want to hand over the presidency to the Democratic Party but acknowledged the immense backlash caused by Yoon’s illegitimate declaration of martial law on December 3.
“I will never give up,” Yoon said in a statement, according to local media reports. The statement was released less than two hours after the National Assembly passed the impeachment motion.
Yoon defended his presidency, saying that he did not hesitate to push forward the four major reforms – his administration had vowed to carry out reforms to South Korea’s pension, healthcare, labor, and education systems. He also touted his efforts to strengthen the country’s economy and security, without offering specifics.
“I will do my best for the country until the end,” Yoon said, implying that he will fight the impeachment process. In his address on December 12, Yoon had argued that his declaration of martial law cannot be subject to a judicial review.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who is now the acting president of South Korea, told reporters that he will do his best to stabilize the country. However, it is unclear whether the opposition parties would work with Han, whom they have been calling a “confederate” of Yoon in the allegations of treason.
As of 7:24 p.m. KST on December 14, Yoon has been suspended from his duties. Now, his impeachment is in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which must decide whether to uphold or overturn the National Assembly’s motion.
Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae said the Constitutional Court will proceed with a fair and speedy trial over Yoon’s impeachment.
The Constitutional Court must issue a ruling within 180 days. In the case of Park Geun-hye, after the National Assembly passed the impeachment bill on December 9, 2016, it took three months for the Constitutional Court to hand down a ruling. Park was finally impeached in March 2017.
Eight years ago, 62 of 127 PPP lawmakers voted to impeach Park. Despite ongoing investigations into treason and insurrection charges against Yoon following his illegitimate declaration of martial law, however, only 12 of 108 PPP lawmakers voted to impeach the president. Several PPP lawmakers argued that impeaching Yoon was tantamount to turning the presidency over to their bitter rival, the Democratic Party.
There should be nine judges in the Constitutional Court under the Constitution, but currently only six judges are on duty. The National Assembly can ask the president – now Han Duck-soo in an interim capacity – to appoint three judges. Woo has vowed to swiftly engage in this process so that the Constitutional Court can proceed with Yoon’s impeachment trial with at least eight judges. In Park’s case, all eight judges unanimously upheld her impeachment.
If more than six judges uphold the impeachment, Yoon will officially be impeached and there will be a special presidential election within 60 days of the ruling.
As the majority of the PPP lawmakers are pro-Yoon, the country was in suspense as to whether the impeachment bill would pass on December 14. At least eight PPP members needed to join with the opposition to pass the motion, and the party had previously vowed to block it.
After Yoon made his second address on December 12, justifying his decision to declare martial law and accusing the DP of overthrowing the regime, however, the atmosphere within the PPP had changed.
Hours after Yoon’s recorded address was released to the public, Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the PPP, asked his party’s legislators to vote to impeach Yoon, saying the president had de facto acknowledged the allegations of treason during his address. Some loyal pro-Yoon legislators vehemently rejected Han’s proposal and argued that the party should again impede the opposition parties’ motion to impeach Yoon at the National Assembly.
When the DP and other five opposition parties proposed a bill to impeach Yoon last week, there were only two PPP lawmakers who expressed their intention to vote for the impeachment. However, five more PPP lawmakers joined them this week, raising the odds of passing the bill. The PPP legislators who are working closely with Han seem to have voted for suspending Yoon’s presidential power and authority.
In the wake of Yoon’s impeachment, an emergency measure committee will likely be formed in the PPP as many of its leaders expressed their intention to step down. Han Dong-hoon has said he wants to continue to serve as party leader, but because four of five Supreme Council leaders expressed their intention to resign, the Han leadership will automatically be dissolved under the PPP constitution. The party will hold internal discussions on December 16 on the way forward.
Ahead of the voting, millions of citizens gathered on the streets near the National Assembly. They took part in a K-pop style protest, holding glow-in-the-dark cheering sticks and singing along to K-pop songs.
“Many people will not forget the day Yoon declared martial law,” Kim Hye-eun, a college student in Seoul, told The Diplomat on the site of protest. “What the PPP did to neutralize the vote last week was unacceptable. But I am glad that some of them made the right decision to make our country safer and better.”
Although the vote was scheduled at 4 p.m. KST, many people started gathering in front of the National Assembly in the early morning. The roughly 400-meter-long street in front of the National Assembly was densely filled by those who showed up to express their support for impeaching Yoon. In the restrooms of the subway station near the National Assembly, citizens placed free snacks, hot packs, and daily necessities to help each other march in cold weather.
“It is truly a tragedy for us to see such a political chaos again,” Yoon Tae-joon, a self-employed worker, told The Diplomat. He said he participated in the protests held eight years ago when the people marched to demand the impeachment of Park. “As the U.S. officials said, I believe the world witnessed South Korea’s democratic resilience, which stemmed from the people who constructed democracy and freedom in this country through uprisings in the 1980s.”
Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the DP who is highly likely be the next president if Yoon’s impeachment is upheld, said the passing of the bill at the National Assembly demonstrated that “the people are the masters of the nation.”
Declaring victory in the first round, Lee asked marchers to continue to fight until the Constitutional Court upholds Yoon’s impeachment.
