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The day of reckoning has come for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The country’s National Assembly voted on December 14 to impeach him over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law earlier this month. When the results were announced, the crowd of thousands outside the assembly erupted in joy and applause; Protestors hugged and shed tears. “Into the New World”, a hit K-pop-protest-anthem from Girls’ Generation, blared from the speakers: “The end of the wandering I’ve been yearning for.”
The impeachment marks the end of the extraordinary ten days. Late on December 3, Mr. Yun declared martial law – but opposition from parliament, his own party and the public forced him to back down the next morning. Mr Yun’s party, the People’s Power Party (PPP), boycotted the first impeachment motion on 7 December. After that disappointing result, “I was sad, so I drank alcohol,” says Kim Seong-nam, an electronics-company employee who has come out to protest four times since martial law was declared.
Mr. Yoon’s defiant stance in the following weeks even turned some in his own party against him. The PPP participated in the second impeachment proceedings, with 12 members voting in favor. This pushed the motion above the required two-thirds threshold, with 204 out of 300 lawmakers voting to impeach the president. This time, “I’m happy, so I’ll go drink!” Mr. Kim says.
Still the unrest is not over yet. The positive vote in the Assembly resulted in Mr. Yoon being immediately suspended from office; The Prime Minister, Han Duk-soo, a career technocrat appointed by the PPP, took over as acting president. The impeachment has now gone to the Constitutional Court, the country’s top legal institution, which has up to 180 days to give its final verdict. Given the urgency of the case, the proceedings may move more quickly: the court took 92 days to uphold the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017; The case against one of his predecessors, Roh Moo-hyun, took only 64 years and the court overturned the impeachment in 2004. Mr. Kim says, “I hope they will rule soon. The longer the uncertainty lasts, the greater the loss for us.”
The matter is rarely straightforward in court. Following the retirement of three judges in October, only six of the nine seats are currently filled. Six affirmative votes are required to rule on impeachment; One of the judges is a conservative appointed directly by Mr. Yoon. (The remaining seats may be filled before the case goes to trial.) After the impeachment vote, Mr. Yoon pledged to “never give up.” Associates say they believe he did nothing illegal; He would try to argue in court that imposing martial law was within his authority as President, and that he followed proper constitutional procedures to do so, drawing criticism from the President and some in his party about “the reality of There’s a different perspective,” says Jang Bo-ram, a protester who brought her two young children. Demonstration on 14th December.
The Court takes into account public opinion. Mr. Yoon’s approval rating has fallen to 11%; About 75% of South Koreans believe he should be impeached. “The judges know where the South Korean people stand. Just look at this crowd,” says Park Song-mi, a screenwriter, pointing to an impromptu dance party near the National Assembly in the wake of the vote. If the court upholds the impeachment, new presidential elections must be held within two months.
Mr Yoon also faces a possible separate criminal trial for treason. Investigators have already put him on the no-fly list and attempted to search the presidential office. Ms. Park was first impeached, and then convicted, on charges of corruption and abuse of power. He served nearly five years of a 20-year sentence in prison, before being pardoned by Mr. Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in.
For many Koreans, the feeling of déjà vu is disturbing. “Last time we didn’t fix the loopholes,” Ms Park laments. Calls for more fundamental political reform are rising again. When South Korea democratized in the late 1980s, the country adopted a system with a powerful president limited to only one person. A five-year term and checked by a unicameral legislature. The introduction of a more simple parliamentary system or multiple, shorter presidential terms could help improve accountability and decentralization of power, Yoon Former Foreign Minister Young-kwan argued in a recent column in the South Korean daily JoongAng over the past four Over the decades, four presidents have been imprisoned and two have now been impeached. ”How long will we tolerate this kind of political situation?” For South Korea as a whole, the reckoning has only just begun.
© 2024, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under license. Original content can be found at www.economist.com
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