South Koreaʼs Constitutional Court has unanimously ruled to uphold the impeachment of Yun Seok-yeol and remove him from office as president over his failed attempt to declare martial law to "protect the constitutional order".
This is reported by the South Korean publication Yonhap.
South Korea will now hold early presidential elections to choose a successor to Yoon Seok Yeol. The court has set a 60-day deadline for this. That means the elections will be held on June 3. In the meantime, the countryʼs Prime Minister Han Dak Soo will serve as acting president.
Yoon Seok Yeolʼs decision to impose martial law in December 2024 (lasting 6 hours) triggered the most serious political crisis in South Korea since the late 1980s. The former president himself told the Constitutional Court that his martial law decree and decision to deploy troops to storm parliament were necessary to "warn the public" about the "crimes" of the left-wing opposition.
Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyeon Bae said Yoon had “violated the basic principles of a democratic state”. Moon Hyeon Bae said that in an attempt to prevent lawmakers from voting to reject his martial law decree, the former president sent soldiers to parliament with orders to “break down the door and drag out the lawmakers”.
- Currently, Yoon Seok Yeol is still facing separate criminal charges of rebellion. He denies his guilt. Back in December 2024, he was informed of suspicion of treason and abuse of power and was banned from traveling abroad. The ex-president was tried to be detained on January 3, 2025, but his security guards prevented this. On January 15, he was finally detained on a second attempt. On March 8, it became known that Yoon Seok Yeol had been released from prison. But he still had to stand trial.
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