South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol faces possible impeachment after he sent heavily armed soldiers onto the streets of Seoul and declared a puzzling martial law that reminded many of the country’s past military-backed dictatorages.
Lawmakers began impeachment proceedings against Yoon hours after Parliament voted unanimously to lift martial law, forcing the president to lift it about six hours after it began. Opposition parties are pushing for a vote on Saturday on the impeachment bill, which needs the support of two-thirds of parliament before it can be submitted to the Constitutional Court, which would decide whether to remove Yoon.
South Korea’s constitution gives the president the power to use the military to maintain order in times of “wartime, warlike circumstances or other similar national emergency.” Imposing martial law can include suspending civil rights such as a free press and freedom of assembly, as well as temporarily limiting the power of courts and government agencies.
The Constitution also gives Congress the power to rescission the declaration by a majority vote. Lawmakers rushed to the National Assembly on Tuesday evening as soon as they heard of Mr. Yoon’s declaration. Some climbed over walls to avoid military cordoned off lines in order to gather a quorum. They voted 190-0 to lift the declaration, including 18 members of Yoon’s party.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, Mr. Yoon vowed to eliminate “anti-state” forces plotting a rebellion and accused the main opposition party of supporting the country’s rival, North Korea.
Yoon did not provide direct evidence when he referred to North Korea as a destabilizing force. Yoon has long maintained that taking a hard line against North Korea is the only way to deter it from carrying out nuclear threats against the South.
Yoon has struggled to get his agenda through parliament, which is dominated by the opposition, while also facing corruption scandals involving himself and his wife.
Will Yoon be impeached?
The motion to impel Yoon will be voted on between Friday and Sunday. If the current bill fails or expires, a new bill can be submitted later. To impeach Yoon, it would require the support of two-thirds of the unichouse National Assembly, or 200 out of 300 members. The opposition has 192 seats, and the bill requires the support of Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party.
People’s Party leader Han Dong-hoon on Friday called for Yoon’s official duties to be immediately stopped, raising the prospect of the president’s impeachment.
If Yoon is impeached, he would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the No. 2 official in the government, will take over as president.
Three seats on the Constitutional Court are currently vacant due to retirements, and six votes are needed to remove a president. The Democrats are expected to speed up the exercise of their right to recommend two of the three new judges.
Mr. Yoon has struggled politically
Claims were quickly made that the martial law declaration was linked to Yoon’s political struggles.
Since coming to power in 2022, he has failed to get his policies adopted by the opposition-controlled parliament.
Conservatives say the opposition’s move is political revenge over investigations into Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, seen as a favourite for the next presidential election in 2027.
This month, Mr. Yoon denied involvement in a money-for-power scandal involving himself and his wife. The allegations have weighed heavily on his popularity and prompted attacks from his rivals.
The scandal centers on allegations that Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee, at the request of election broker and pollster founder Myung Tae-kyun, exercised improper influence over the People Power Party to select a certain candidate to run in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections, Myung Tae-kyun conducted free polls for Yoon before he became president.
Mr. Yoon has said he did nothing wrong.
Martial law in South Korea has a dark history
During the dictatorships that emerged as South Korea rebuilt from the 1950-53 Korean War, leaders occasionally proclaimed martial law that allowed them to station soldiers, tanks and armored vehicles on streets or in public places to prevent anti-government demonstrations.
Army Gen. Park Chung-hee led several thousand troops into Seoul in the early hours of May 16, 1961, in the country’s first coup. He led South Korea for nearly 20 years and proclaimed martial law several times to stop protests and jail critics before he was assassinated by his spy chief in 1979.
Less than two months after Park’s death, Maj. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan led tanks and troops into Seoul in December 1979 in the country’s second coup. The next year, he orchestrated a brutal military crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising in the southern city of Gwangju, killing at least 200 people.
In the summer of 1987, massive street protests forced Chun’s government to accept direct presidential elections. His army buddy Roh Tae-woo, who had joined Chun’s 1979 coup, won the election held later in 1987 largely because of divided votes among liberal opposition candidates.