Four months after declaring martial law, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached

Four months after declaring martial law, they ousted the president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. After parliament voted to impeach him in December, the eight judges of the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously to uphold it, removing the president permanently from power.

The streets of Seoul made the political tension felt, as they filled with demonstrators who were either for or against impeaching the South Korean leader.

The verdict came days before the trial begins against Yoon, charged with alleged incitement of insurrection and abuse of power by the martial law that he declared in late 2024. According to the indictment, the then president used martial law to try to shut down the National Assembly, arrest politicians and election authorities.

The now former president was arrested in January and subsequently released in March after a court canceled his arrest but upheld the charges. Yoon's political career ended up being paragamous, given that he rose to national fame for his role in the impeachment and imprisonment of another South Korean president, Park Geun-hye.

Like many of his predecessors, he ended up facing some scandal during his tenure. In this case, one that ended his years as president. Indeed, only Moon Jae-in (2017-2022), Kim Young-sam (1993-1998) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003), architect of a rapprochement with North Korea, ended their terms without a hitch.

With this ouster, Yoon became the elected leader with the shortest term in South Korea's democratic history.