Photo/Illutration South Korean National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, center, bangs the gavel to initiate the plenary session for the impeachment vote of President Yoon Suk-yeol at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 14. (Pool Photo via AP)

A president who lauded the value of freedom and democracy in his inauguration speech two and a half years ago has been disqualified by the national assembly for allegedly having attempted to stifle freedom and plunged democracy into a crisis by declaring “extraordinary martial law.”

The South Korean National Assembly on Dec. 14 passed a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol with the approval of more than the mandatory two-thirds of its members.

Even some lawmakers from Yoon's ruling People Power Party voted for the motion.

The impeachment suspended Yoon from exercising power. The Constitutional Court will decide within 180 days if he should be removed from public office.

The last time a South Korean president was impeached was when Park Geun-hye faced the same procedure in 2016. Park, a conservative like Yoon, was removed from public office in the following year.

Yoon bears heavy responsibility for having sent armed troops to the National Assembly to suppress objections and eliminate his political opponents.

Even after an initial impeachment motion was scrapped on Dec. 7, masses of citizens continued to take to the streets day after day to call for Yoon’s resignation. One survey from that period showed that 75 percent of the public approved an impeachment for the president.

Despite all that, an address that Yoon made to the public two days before his impeachment was passed showed no signs that he was facing up sincerely to his own responsibility.

Yoon argued in the speech that the opposition, confronting his administration, was threatening national security and social safety, and he justified his declaration of martial law as being “within the realm of executive authority” of the president.

He swore at the National Assembly, where progressive (reformist) opposition parties command a majority, by calling it a “monster that is destroying free and democratic constitutional order.” The way he did so could only be called outlandish.

People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, who initially sought ways to have Yoon step down at an early date without facing impeachment, understandably ended up calling on lawmakers from his own ruling party to vote for an impeachment motion.

The investigative authorities have arrested, with regard to the martial law decree, the former defense minister and commissioners of police agencies on suspicion of charges including insurrection. Yoon is also being investigated and has been banned from leaving the country.

Yoon is no longer in a state that allows him to take the helm of national administration. It therefore stands to reason that he has been suspended from exercising his power.

It appears extremely difficult, whatever the outcome of the Constitutional Court hearings in the months to come, for Yoon to regain the confidence of the public.

The ruling and opposition parties should thoroughly discuss matters of national administration with an eye toward a post-Yoon regime.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will be acting president for the time being.

South Korea’s foreign policy and security environments are becoming increasingly uncertain, with the rising tension with North Korea and the coming change of government in the United States.

The country’s domestic economy also remains lackluster, including with sluggish consumption.

The public would have to bear the brunt of any political turbulence. The ruling and opposition parties should therefore work together to disentangle the confusion and stabilize the situation, in a manner that would be acceptable to the public.

South Korean politics have long been plagued by a serious divide, wherein the ruling and opposition blocs have been attacking and denying each other. That partly accounts for the deep public distrust of the existing political circles.

It goes without saying the opposition parties are also responsible for regaining the public's confidence.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 15

Related News