South Korean parliament will vote on impeachment motion against President Yoon over martial law

Participants hold banners during a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL -

South Korean lawmakers are set to vote on an opposition-led impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday, two days after Yoon defended his controversial martial law decree and vowed to resist mounting calls for his ouster.

It’ll be the second time for the National Assembly to hold a vote on Yoon’s impeachment motion over his short-lived Dec. 3 martial law introduction. Last Saturday, Yoon survived an impeachment vote after most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a floor vote.

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It’s not clear if those People Power Party lawmakers would do the same again. Public protests against Yoon have since intensified and his approval rating has plummeted. The country’s six opposition parties control the 300-member unicameral parliament with a combined 192 seats, but they are eight seats shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass Yoon’s impeachment motion.

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of capital Seoul in the past two weeks, calling for Yoon to be removed from office and arrested. Smaller groups of Yoon's conservative supporters — still in the thousands — gathered in Seoul's Gwanghwamun boulevard, claiming the opposition's impeachment push was “unconstitutional” and “false propaganda."

Yoon’s martial law imposition, the first of kind in more than four decades in South Korea, lasted only six hours, but has caused political tumult, halted diplomatic activities and rattled financial markets. Yoon was forced to lift his decree after parliament unanimously voted to overturn it.

After declaring martial law, Yoon sent hundreds of troops and police officers to the parliament to try to impede its vote on the decree before they withdrew after the parliament rejected it. No major violence occurred.

Opposition parties and many experts accuse Yoon of rebellion, citing a law clause that categorizes as rebellion the staging of a riot against established state authorities to undermine the constitution. They also say that by law a president in South Korea is allowed to declare marital law only during wartime or similar emergencies and has no rights to suspend parliament’s operations even under martial law.

Law enforcement authorities are investigating whether Yoon and others involved in the martial law declaration committed rebellion, abuse of power and other crimes. If convicted, the leader of a rebellion plot can face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

On the night of Dec. 3, Yoon also sent soldiers and police officers to the National Election Commission, in what he called a bid to check vulnerabilities in its computer systems that could raise questions on the results of elections. This has spawned speculation that he acted on unfounded rumors or conspiracy theories that the outcome of April’s parliamentary elections, in which the ruling party suffered a massive defeat, was rigged.

The impeachment motion alleged that Yoon “committed rebellion that hurts peace on the Republic of Korea by staging a series of riots.” It said Yoon’s mobilization of military and police forces threatened the National Assembly and the public and that his martial law decree was aimed at disturbing the Constitution.

In a fiery speech on Thursday, Yoon defended his martial law order as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges. He claimed the troops’ deployment to the National Assembly was designed to maintain order, not dissolve or paralyze it.

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The conservative Yoon said he aimed to issue a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, calling it “a monster” and “anti-state forces” that he argued has flexed its legislative muscle to impeach top officials, undermined the government’s budget bill for next year and sympathized with North Korea.

“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung called Yoon’s speech a “mad declaration of war” against his own people.

If the National Assembly passes Yoon’s impeachment motion, his presidential powers and duties will be suspended until the Constitutional Court determines whether to dismiss him as president or restore his powers. If he’s thrown out of office, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.

Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and the head of Seoul’s metropolitan police agency have been arrested or detained over their roles in the martial law case. Other senior military and government officials also face investigations.

Ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who resigned on Dec. 5, is considered a central figure in Yoon’s martial law enforcement. The opposition parties alleged he proposed martial law to Yoon, and the president said Thursday he discussed imposing marital law only with Kim before informing other top officials just before declaring it.

Kim attempted to kill himself while in detention before correctional officers stopped him and he was in stable condition, according to the Justice Ministry.

Yoon has the presidential privilege of immunity from criminal prosecution but that doesn’t extend to allegations of rebellion or treason. Subsequently, Yoon could be investigated, detained, arrested or indicted over his martial law decree, but many observers doubt that authorities will forcefully detain him because of the potential for clashes with his presidential security service.