A screen shows footage of President Yun Seok-Yeol addressing the nation at Seoul Station in Seoul, South Korea on December 7, 2024.
Jung Sung Joon | Getty Images News | Getty Images
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol was impeached on Saturday in a vote that stemmed from a brief failed attempt to impose martial law in early December.
If the incumbent is removed from office or resigns, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
The result of the vote was 204 votes in favor of impeachment and 85 votes against. 3 abstentions and 8 invalid votes were decided. NBC News reported. The vote required a two-thirds majority.
According to NBC News, Prime Minister Han Do-soo will serve as acting president following the vote results following Yoon’s suspension of national service.
According to a report by NBC News, Mr. Han said after the vote, “I will do my best to ensure the stable governance of our country,” and pointed out that Mr. Han could also be impeached for his role in Mr. Yoon’s declaration of martial law.
The previous impeachment motion, filed on December 7, failed to receive 200 of the required 300 votes in the South Korean National Assembly because allied members of Yoon’s People Power Party left their seats before the motion could be raised. . The tide has since changed, and on Thursday, Democratic Progressive Party leader Han Dong-hoon expressed support for Congress to vote to impeach Yoon and called for an ethics committee to discuss Yoon’s departure from the party. According to South Korea’s Yonhap News.
The motion was made on December 3, when Yoon temporarily suspended martial law for the first time since the military coup in 1979, citing “the need to protect the constitutional order based on freedom and eradicate shameful pro-North Korean anti-national forces.” was instigated by opposition members. A group that is stealing our people’s freedom and happiness. ” According to NBC News. The measure was rescinded within six hours, but questions arose as to whether Mr. Yun might try to impose martial law across the country again.
Since taking office as president in 2022, the president has faced a number of scandals, many of them involving his wife, businessman Kim Kun-hee. plummeted to 17.3% In the days after the Dec. 3 incident, Mr. Yoon, who had initially said he was putting his fate in the hands of his party, balked at growing calls for his resignation from opposition lawmakers and peaceful protesters. I resisted. He is prohibited from leaving the country.
Yoon is not the first South Korean president to face an impeachment vote since the turn of the century, with Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 and Park Geun-hye removed from office in 2016 as a result of impeachment.
On Thursday, Yun delivered a long and defiant speech to the nation, pledging to “fight to the end” and “stand resolutely.” NBC News reported.
“The opposition parties are currently going wild, claiming that the declaration of martial law is tantamount to a riot,” Yun said. “Are their claims true?”
The political turmoil initially spooked markets and raised concerns about the democratic stability of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, but John Woods, chief investment officer at Lombard Odier, said South Korean watchdogs now believe that “this “We will overcome the crisis” and refocus on domestic revenues. .
“I certainly think the endgame is in front of us, and I’m sure it will continue into the first quarter or so of next year,” Woods told CNBC’s Tanvir Gill on Thursday. “This instability around the political landscape is something that we need to consider very seriously. But certainly there is certainly broader policy value.” [South] South Korea as a proxy AI cannot be overlooked either. ”
Technology, chips and the burgeoning AI industry play a central role in South Korea’s International Monetary Fund-backed economy. prediction It is expected to expand by 2.5% this year.
