South Korean President Yoon impeached over martial law debacle

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached on Saturday over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, throwing the nation into months of caretaker rule.

Police said least 200,000 people rallied in Seoul outside the National Assembly, which voted on the resolution for “insurrectionary acts”, a week after a first attempt to remove Yoon for the martial law debacle failed.

Under South Korea’s Constitution, Yoon is immediately suspended from office upon impeachment.

The prime minister or a member of the State Council, following the order of succession determined by law, assumes the role of acting president until the Constitutional Court delivers its final ruling within 180 days.

If it backs his removal, he would become the second president in South Korean history to be successfully impeached.

But there is also precedent for the court to block impeachment. In 2004, then president Roh Moo-hyun was removed by parliament for alleged election law violations and incompetence, but the court ruled in his favour, allowing him to return to the office after being suspended for two months.