South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Impeached Over Martial Law Attempt

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, impeached on Saturday over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, has been stripped of his duties and powers as head of state but remains president while the Constitutional Court decides his fate.

Here are some of the powers he loses and what he continues to enjoy, according to the constitution, statutes and protocol guidelines.

POWERS, DUTIES SUSPENDED

Yoon’s main constitutional powers have been transferred to Acting President Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the Yoon-picked prime minister.

These include the power to sign diplomatic treaties, appoint diplomats and put matters of national importance on foreign, defence and unification affairs to a referendum.

Yoon loses the sole power to declare martial law and to declare war against a foreign state, command of the military and immunity from prosecution for crimes.

The powers to appoint public officials including cabinet ministers, the chief justice of the Supreme Court and the three vacancies on the Constitutional Court are also suspended.

As he remains president despite being suspended of the duties, he is entitled to remain in his official residence, use the presidential motorcade, aircraft and presidential security.

Yoon will continue to collect his 255 million won ($170,000) annual salary.

BENEFITS AS FORMER PRESIDENT

If removed from office, Yoon would lose all benefits awarded former presidents, including a pension worth 95% of his salary at the time of retirement and a staff of up to four people.

He would continue to receive security protection but not financial support for a private office, transportation and medical care for himself and his family.

($1 = 1,434.0300 won)

DEFIANT

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.

“I will give all my strength and efforts to stabilise the government,” Han told reporters after the vote.

Later, he chaired a National Security Council meeting and urged the country to maintain a “watertight readiness posture” to ensure North Korea could not plan any provocations. The political crisis, which has led to the resignation or arrest of several senior defence and military officials, has raised concerns over the South’s ability to deter nuclear-armed North Korea at a time when Pyongyang is expanding its arsenal and deepening ties with Russia.

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.

Considered 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 near parliament backing Yoon’s impeachment leapt for joy, 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 urged protesters near parliament to fight together so Yoon is removed swiftly. “You, the people, made it. You are writing a new history,” he told the jubilant crowds braving subfreezing temperatures.

‘FIGHT TO THE END’

The impeachment motion was carried as at least 12 members of Yoon’s People Power Party joined the opposition parties, which control 192 seats in the 300-member national assembly, clearing the two-thirds threshold needed.

The number of lawmakers supporting impeachment was 204, with 85 against, three abstentions and eight invalid ballots.

The political crisis has sparked disarray in the ruling party, with its chief Han Dong-hoon defying calls to resign after backing impeachment as “inevitable to normalise the situation”.

Yoon shocked the nation on Dec. 3 when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers to root out what he called “anti-state forces” and overcome obstructionist political opponents.

He rescinded the declaration barely six hours later, after parliament defied troops and police to vote against the decree. But it plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and triggered widespread calls for him to step down on the grounds that he had broken the law.

Yoon later apologised but defended his decision and resisted calls to resign.

Opposition parties launched the fresh impeachment vote, supported by large demonstrations.

Yoon is also under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over the martial law declaration, and authorities have banned him from travelling overseas.

In another defiant speech on Thursday, Yoon vowed to “fight to the end”, defending his martial law decree as necessary to overcome political deadlock and protect the country from domestic politicians who he said were undermining democracy.

‘RACE IN THE COURTS’

Yoon’s impeachment is unlikely to end the political turmoil, analysts warned.

“It is not even the beginning of the end,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Opposition leader Lee, who narrowly lost to Yoon in 2022 and is favoured to win an election to replace him, is also in legal jeopardy, with a conviction on appeal and other rulings pending that could disqualify him from office.

“So before the final race in the polls, there will be a race in the courts,” Easley said.

Illustrating the divisions the political crisis has stirred on the streets, one Yoon supporter said he would leave the country if the Constitutional Court backed Yoon’s impeachment.

“It breaks my heart and makes me feel despair to see lawmakers trying to depose the president,” said Lee Sang-eun, a 69-year-old retired professor.

But at an anti-Yoon rally another resident Lee Hoy-yeol, 46, called for Yoon to resign to ensure a swift resolution “for the sake of the people of South Korea.”

When first elected, Yoon was widely welcomed in Washington and other Western capitals for his rhetoric defending global democracy and freedom, but critics said this masked growing problems at home.

He clashed with opposition lawmakers, calling them “anti-state forces”. Press freedom organisations have criticised his heavy-handed approach to media coverage that he deems negative.

The ensuing crisis and uncertainty have shaken financial markets and threatened to undermine South Korea’s reputation as a stable, democratic success story. South Korea’s finance minister will convene an emergency meeting on the economy on Sunday, while the foreign minister met with the U.S. ambassador and other senior diplomats met with the ambassadors from Japan and China to reassure continuity in foreign policy, the ministries said.

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Impeached Over Martial Law Attempt

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been impeached over his controversial martial law attempt, sparking political turmoil and an ongoing Constitutional Court review.

POWERS, DUTIES SUSPENDED

BENEFITS AS FORMER PRESIDENT

DEFIANT

‘FIGHT TO THE END’

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