SoKor President Yoon ousted as court upholds impeachment
SEOUL—South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was ousted on Friday by the Constitutional Court as it upheld parliament’s impeachment over his imposition of martial law last year which sparked the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The unanimous ruling caps months of political turmoil, overshadowing efforts to deal with the new administration of US President Donald Trump at a time of slowing growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
A presidential election is now required to take place within 60 days, according to the Constitution, with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to continue serving as acting president until the new president is inaugurated.
“The Constitutional Court’s unanimous ruling has removed a major source of uncertainty,” said professor Leif-Eric Easley of Ewha University in Seoul. “And not a moment too soon, given how the next administration in Seoul must navigate North Korea’s military threats, China’s diplomatic pressure, and Trump’s trade tariffs.”
Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae said Yoon violated his duty as president with his Dec. 3, 2024 martial law declaration, acting beyond his constitutional powers with actions that were “a serious challenge to democracy.”
“[Yoon] committed a grave betrayal of the people’s trust who are the sovereign members of the democratic republic,” Moon said, adding that Yoon’s declaration of martial law created chaos in all areas of society, the economy and foreign policy.
Cheers, silence
Thousands of people at a rally calling for Yoon’s ouster, including hundreds who had camped out overnight, erupted into wild cheers on hearing the ruling, chanting “We won!”
“This took a long time but it’s fortunate that it is a sensible outcome,” said Kim Han-sol, a 23-year-old student at a rally who watched the ruling outside the court.
Supporters of Yoon who were gathered near his official residence watched the ruling on a big screen in stunned silence.
Some reacted in anger, with one protester arrested for smashing a police bus window, the Yonhap news agency reported. Others held their heads in hands and wept.
The South Korean won was largely unfazed by Friday’s ruling, remaining at about 1-percent higher versus the dollar at 1,436.6 per dollar. The benchmark Kospi was down 0.7 percent, also unchanged from the morning as the expected scenario was for the court to uphold the impeachment bill.
The court rejected most of Yoon’s argument that he declared martial law to sound the alarm over the main opposition party’s abuse of its parliamentary majority, saying there were legal avenues to address disagreements.
The martial law decree lacked justification and was also procedurally defective, Moon said. Mobilizing the military against parliament to disrupt its functions was a grave violation of Yoon’s constitutional duty to safeguard the independence of the three branches of government, he added.
‘Political decision’
The presidential flag that flew alongside the national flag at the presidential office was lowered on Friday after the ruling. At military bases and command centers around the country, portraits of Yoon will be taken down to be shredded or burned, according to law.
One of Yoon’s lawyers, Yoon Kab-keun, said it was a legally implausible decision by a court that conducted the trial in questionable manners.
“This can only be seen as a political decision and it’s really disappointing,” he told reporters. Yoon has not emerged from his official residence, where he has been holed up since his release from jail on March 8.
Criminal trial
Kwon Young-se, the interim leader of Yoon’s ruling People Power Party, apologized to the people, saying the party humbly accepted the court’s ruling and pledged to work with the acting president to stabilize the country.
Acting President Han Duck-soo, speaking after the ruling, said he would do all he could to ensure an orderly and peaceful presidential election.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok is expected to convene an emergency meeting with the Bank of Korea governor and financial regulators.
Among the government’s urgent priorities now are shoring up growth and formulating a response to a 25-percent tariff imposed by the United States on South Korean imports.
The finance ministry has proposed a 10-trillion-won ($7-billion) supplementary budget but needs to seek a compromise with the opposition Democratic Party, whose leader Lee Jae-myung, the top liberal presidential contender, is targeting 30 trillion won.
Yoon, 64, still faces a criminal trial on insurrection charges related to the martial law declaration which carries a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment.
‘Antistate’ elements
The embattled leader became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested on Jan. 15, but was released in March after a court canceled his arrest warrant. Oral arguments in the case starts on April 14.
The crisis was triggered by Yoon’s surprise late-night declaration that martial law was needed to root out “antistate” elements and stop the alleged abuse by the parliamentary majority of the opposition Democratic Party.
Yoon lifted the decree six hours later, after parliamentary staffers used barricades and fire extinguishers to ward off special operations soldiers—who arrived by helicopter and broke windows as they sought to enter parliament, where lawmakers voted to reject martial law.
Yoon has said he never intended to fully impose emergency military rule and tried to downplay the fallout, saying nobody was hurt.
