South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been impeached by the National Assembly following his brief attempt to impose martial law, a move that sparked political chaos midway through his presidency.
On Saturday, the unicameral National Assembly voted 204 to 85 to impeach Yoon, marking the second impeachment vote in just eight days.
Three members abstained, and eight votes were deemed invalid. The vote, conducted by secret ballot, required a two-thirds majority, with all 300 assembly members participating.
The announcement of the results was met with audible gasps from the chamber, while outside, thousands of protesters cheered and applauded.
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As a result of the impeachment, Yoon is immediately suspended from office, with South Korea’s Constitutional Court set to review his case. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will serve as the interim president in the meantime.
The Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to make a ruling on Yoon’s future. If the court upholds the impeachment, Yoon would become only the second South Korean president to be successfully removed from office, following the impeachment of Park Geun-hye in 2016.
Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) had initially boycotted the first impeachment vote the previous week, blocking a quorum. However, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon later called for the party’s participation, even though the party officially rejects Yoon’s impeachment.
Ahead of the vote, at least seven PPP members signaled their support for impeachment, leaving only one more vote needed to reach the 200 votes required for the motion to pass.
On the day of the vote, approximately 200,000 people gathered in Seoul for opposing rallies in support of and against Yoon. During the National Assembly session, Speaker Woo Won-shik emphasized that “the weight of history” rested on the assembly members’ shoulders.
Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, called Yoon “the ringleader of the insurrection” and described the impeachment as the “only way” to protect South Korea’s constitution.
Yoon has remained defiant in the face of the impeachment and ongoing investigations into his administration.
His approval rating, which was never high, has dropped to 11 percent according to a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, down from 19 percent in November, shortly before the martial law declaration.
The same poll showed that 75 percent of the public now supports his impeachment.
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