South Korean president faces impeachment motion after declaring martial law
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SEOUL—A day after declaring martial law, South Korea’s president is now facing the prospect of impeachment, creating more political instability for a close U.S. ally.
Parliament intends to vote on removing the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol by Friday or Saturday, opposition lawmakers said. To do so, they will need a two-thirds backing at the country’s unicameral, 300-seat National Assembly. The main opposition Democratic Party, along with its allies, have at least 191 seats under their control.
That means a handful of lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party will need to be persuaded to break ranks. Yoon’s move to declare martial law late Tuesday night stunned South Korea’s political establishment and caught U.S. officials by surprise.
Within about six hours, Yoon reversed course after the country’s lawmakers demanded the martial rule be nullified by a 190-to-0 vote, a group that included nearly 20 lawmakers from Yoon’s own party. For several hours from late Tuesday to early Wednesday, Yoon exercised a type of military control over South Korea that had been avoided for more than four decades. Armed soldiers broke windows and stormed into the National Assembly building.
The government gave itself jurisdiction over the country’s military, political expression and medical staffing. Yoon has seen his approval ratings fall to new lows and has brandished his political opponents as anti-state forces. In calling for martial law, Yoon said disputes over budget talks and investigations of top prosecutors had set the country into a constitutional crisis and vulnerable to North Korean “communist forces." The fallout on Wednesday was broad.
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