Reuters – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed on Saturday 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.
Han promised his utmost efforts to ensure stability after Yoon’s impeachment. “I will give all my strength and efforts to stabilise the government,” Han told reporters.
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.
Regarded as a tough political survivor but increasingly isolated, he has been dogged by personal scandals and strife, an unyielding opposition and rifts within his own party.
Protesters backing Yoon’s impeachment leapt for joy near parliament at the news, 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 told protesters near parliament that they should fight together so Yoon was removed as quickly as possible. “You, the people, made it. You are writing a new history,” he told the jubilant crowds braving subfreezing temperatures.
