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Some members of Yun’s own conservative People’s Power Party cast key votes in favor of impeachment.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol has been impeached by the National Assembly over his brief attempt to impose martial law, which plunged South Korea into political turmoil midway through his presidential term.
The unicameral National Assembly voted 204-85 to impeach Yun on Saturday, the second time in eight days. Three members abstained and eight votes were declared invalid.
The vote was held by secret ballot, and the two-thirds majority required for impeachment was obtained. All 300 members voted.
What happens next?
The impeachment automatically suspends Yoon from office while South Korea’s Constitutional Court deliberates his fate.
Prime Minister Han Deok-soo becomes interim president.
The Constitutional Court will then have 180 days to rule on Yun’s future. If Yoon’s removal from office is upheld, he will become the second president in South Korean history to be successfully impeached.
Another conservative president, Park Geun-hye, was also impeached in December 2016 and removed from office in March 2017.
People Power Party’s stance changes
Yun’s conservative People’s Power Party (PPP) boycotted the first impeachment vote a week earlier, without a quorum.
Since then, Democratic Progressive Party leader Han Dong-hoon has urged his party to participate in the voting process, but the party’s official position has been to refuse to impeach Yoon.
Prior to the vote, at least seven PPP members announced they would vote to impeach Yun, leaving him with just one vote to reach the 200 votes needed for impeachment.
“The weight of history”
In the capital Seoul, an estimated 200,000 people took part in a rally for and against Yoon hours before the impeachment vote.
At the opening of the National Assembly session, Speaker U Won-sik declared that the “weight of history” rests in the hands of members of the National Assembly.
House floor leader Park Chan-dae of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, declared, “Mr. Yoon is the ringleader of the rebellion.”
He added that the impeachment resolution is the “only way” to “protect the constitution” of South Korea.
As the fallout from the declaration of martial law deepens and investigations into his close aides expand, Mr. Yoon continues to exhibit an unapologetic and defiant attitude.
His approval rating, which had never been high, plummeted to 11 percent, according to a Korea Gallup poll released on Friday. A previous poll conducted in November showed his approval rating at 19% just before martial law was declared.
According to the same poll, 75% of the public now supports his impeachment.
