SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed on Saturday to fight for his political future after being impeached in a second vote by parliament for his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, a move that shocked the nation.
The Constitutional Court will decide whether to remove Yoon at some point in the next six months. If he is removed from office, a snap election will be called.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was appointed by Yoon, became acting president while Yoon remains in office but with his presidential powers suspended halfway through his five-year term.
“Although I am stopping for now, the journey I have been on with people over the past two and a half years towards the future must never stop. I will never give up,” Yoon said.
He is the second consecutive conservative president to suffer. Park Geun-hye was removed from her position in 2017.
Yoon survived a first impeachment vote last weekend when his party largely boycotted the vote, depriving Parliament of a quorum.
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He shocked the nation on December 3 when he gave the military broad emergency powers to root out what he called “anti-state forces” and overcome obstructionist political opponents.
He rescinded the declaration just six hours later, after Parliament challenged troops and police to vote against the decree. But it plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and triggered widespread calls for him to resign on the grounds that he had broken the law.
Yoon later apologized to the nation but defended his decision and resisted calls to resign.
