- cross-posted to:
- world
- cross-posted to:
- world
Summary
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached by the National Assembly for his unconstitutional declaration of martial law.
The vote, which required a two-thirds majority, saw support from both the opposition and members of Yoon’s governing party.
Yoon, suspended from state duties, faces investigation and potential rebellion charges, while the country grapples with political turmoil and North Korean propaganda.
The Impeachment process isn’t identical between the two. US congress has a lower bar for impeachment but requires a 2/3rd vote in the senate to convict which is where those both failed.
In South Korea they have a 2/3rd threshold to impeach and then it goes to a constitutional court to uphold or not uphold it. The prime minister becomes acting president right after impeachment while the constitutional court reviews it
There’s recent precident of the constitutional court upholding an impeachment unanimously in south korea in 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Park_Geun-hye
Gotcha. So they’re already past the more challenging phase of the process. Great!
Although the constitutional court does have 3 vacancies right now and it does look more conservative at the moment so it’s not fully a given that it will get through
Thanks for the insight. I’m not familiar with their governmental structure, let alone the current climate.
Between the ongoing protests and now celebration in the streets over the impeachment vote, do you think the constitutional court will consider the repercussions of their decision on civil unrest?
Given my limited knowledge and all of the highly unpredictable things going on in democracies around the world, I’m just gonna opt out of making any firm predictions myself. We’ll find out in at most 180 days (they have that amount of time to decide)
I’ll note that others predict the court will ask the national assembly to try to fill those 3 vacancies. If they do so, it would make it easier to pass since it requires 6 to vote in favor for it to succeed regardless of vacancies. There are currently only 6 on the court
I’ll also note that in 2004, the constitutional court rejected Roh Moo-hyun’s impeachment when there was strong backlash to the impeachment in the public. The charges there were much more minor than what happened here
Very interesting. I’ll keep an eye out for updates. Thanks again for your insight!