South Korea's President defiant after impeachment over martial law bid

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol. Photo: HANDOUT / AFP

• Yoon vows not to give up after impeachment vote
• Constitutional Court to decide whether to remove Yoon within 6 months
• Acting President Han pledges to maintain stability
• At least 12 from Yoon's party backed impeachment
• Yoon faces separate criminal investigation

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed to fight for his political future after he was impeached in a second vote by the opposition-led parliament over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, a move that had shocked the nation.

The Constitutional Court will decide whether to remove Yoon sometime in the next six months. If he is removed from office, a snap election will be called.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was appointed by Yoon, became acting president while Yoon remains in office but with his presidential powers suspended halfway through his five-year term.

"I will give all my strength and efforts to stabilise the government," Han told reporters after the vote.

Later, he chaired a National Security Council meeting and urged the country to maintain a "watertight readiness posture" to ensure North Korea could not plan any provocations.

The political crisis, which has led to the resignation or arrest of several senior defence and military officials, has raised concerns over the South's ability to deter nuclear-armed North Korea at a time when Pyongyang is expanding its arsenal and deepening ties with Russia.

Yoon is the second conservative president in a row to be impeached in South Korea. Park Geun-hye was removed from office in 2017. Yoon survived a first impeachment vote last weekend, when his party largely boycotted the vote, depriving parliament of a quorum.

"Although I am stopping for now, the journey I have walked with the people over the past two and a half years toward the future must never come to a halt. I will never give up," Yoon said.

Considered a tough political survivor but increasingly isolated, he has been dogged by personal scandals and strife, an unyielding opposition, rifts within his own party and low approval ratings.

Protesters near parliament backing Yoon's impeachment leapt for joy, waving colourful LED sticks as music pumped out. By contrast, a rally of Yoon supporters emptied following the news.

Opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung urged protesters near parliament to fight together so Yoon is removed swiftly. "You, the people, made it. You are writing a new history," he told the jubilant crowds braving subfreezing temperatures.

'Fight to the end'

The impeachment motion was carried as at least 12 members of Yoon's People Power Party joined the opposition parties, which control 192 seats in the 300-member national assembly, clearing the two-thirds threshold needed.

The number of lawmakers supporting impeachment was 204, with 85 against, three abstentions and eight invalid ballots.

The political crisis has sparked disarray in the ruling party, with its party leader Han Dong-hoon defying calls to resign after backing impeachment as "inevitable to normalise the situation".

Yoon shocked the nation on Dec. 3 when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers to root out what he called "anti-state forces" and overcome obstructionist political opponents.

He rescinded the declaration barely six hours later, after parliament defied troops and police to vote against the decree. But it plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and triggered widespread calls for him to step down on the grounds that he had broken the law.

Yoon later apologised but defended his decision and resisted calls to resign.

Opposition parties launched the fresh impeachment vote, supported by large demonstrations.

Yoon is also under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over the martial law declaration, and authorities have banned him from travelling overseas.

In another defiant speech on Thursday, Yoon vowed to "fight to the end", defending his martial law decree as necessary to overcome political deadlock and protect the country from domestic politicians whom he said were undermining democracy.

'Race in the courts'

Yoon's impeachment is unlikely to end the political turmoil, analysts warned.

"It is not even the beginning of the end," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Opposition leader Lee, who narrowly lost to Yoon in 2022 and is favoured to win an election to replace him, is also in legal jeopardy, with a conviction on appeal and other rulings pending that could disqualify him from office.

"So before the final race in the polls, there will be a race in the courts," Easley said.

Illustrating the divisions, the political crisis has stirred on the streets. One Yoon supporter said he would leave the country if the Constitutional Court backed Yoon's impeachment.

"It breaks my heart and makes me feel despair to see lawmakers trying to depose the president," said Lee Sang-eun, a 69-year-old retired professor.

But at an anti-Yoon rally, another resident, Lee Hoy-yeol, 46, called for Yoon to resign to ensure a swift resolution "for the sake of the people of South Korea."

When first elected, Yoon was widely welcomed in Washington and other Western capitals for his rhetoric defending global democracy and freedom, but critics said this masked growing problems at home.

He clashed with opposition lawmakers, calling them "anti-state forces". Press freedom organisations have criticised his heavy handed approach to media coverage that he deems negative.

The ensuing crisis and uncertainty have shaken financial markets and threatened to undermine South Korea's reputation as a stable, democratic success story.

South Korea's finance minister will convene an emergency meeting on the economy on Sunday, while the foreign minister met with the US ambassador and other senior diplomats met with the ambassadors from Japan and China to reassure continuity in foreign policy, the ministries said.

"I think the most important thing is that the Republic of Korea has demonstrated its democratic resilience," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Saturday. "We've seen it follow a peaceful process laid out in its constitution, and we're ready to work with President Han as he assumes office."

- Reuters