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President Who Imposed Emergency In South Korea, Removed

  • By Thetripurapost Web Desk, Seoul
  • Dec 14, 2024
  • 212

The impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-sol was passed in South Korea on Saturday. According to Al Jazeera's report, 204 votes were cast against him in the Parliament while only 85 votes were cast in his support.

After the impeachment motion against Yoon was passed in the Parliament, the powers of the President have been suspended immediately. Now Prime Minister Han Duk-soo will work as the acting President.

President Yoon imposed martial law in the country on the night of December 3. However, after massive protests, he withdrew his decision within 6 hours. After this move of Yoon, there was a lot of opposition against him in South Korea. Last Saturday also, an impeachment motion was brought to remove him, but it could not be passed by a few votes.

After the news of Yoon's impeachment broke, protesters in front of the parliament began celebrating. They were dancing while playing Korean pop songs.

After the impeachment motion is passed, it will now be presented before the court. If 6 out of 9 judges give a verdict against the President, only then the further process will be started. Elections have to be held within 60 days of the impeachment starting. During this time, the Prime Minister has the powers of the President.

There are a total of 300 seats in the South Korean parliament. In the elections held earlier this year, the public gave a huge mandate to the opposition party DPK. The ruling People Power got only 108 seats, while the opposition party DPK got 170 seats. Due to being in majority, the opposition DPK was interfering a lot in the functioning of the President's government, and they were not able to work according to their agenda.

President Yol won the election in 2022 by a narrow margin. Since then his popularity has been declining. His image was also affected due to his wife being embroiled in many controversies. Currently, the President's popularity is around 17%, which is the lowest among all the presidents of the country.

To deal with all this, the President imposed martial law. He accused the DPK of sympathizing with North Korea and being involved in anti-national activities.

After President Yeol announced the martial law, the entire opposition reached the parliament within a short time. To remove the martial law, there should be more than 150 MPs in the parliament. By the time the army reached to take over the parliament, enough MPs had reached the parliament and the proceedings had begun.

However, the army tried to stop the proceedings. Many opposition MPs who were going to vote in the parliament were taken into custody. The soldiers started breaking the windows of the parliament to enter inside, but by the time the soldiers reached inside, 190 out of 300 MPs of the National Assembly voted down the President's proposal for martial law.

According to the constitution of South Korea, if the majority of MPs in the parliament demand the removal of martial law in the country, then the government will have to accept it. Opposition leaders benefited from this provision of the constitution and the army had to stop its action.

The army immediately evacuated the parliament and returned. There were helicopters above the parliament and military tanks deployed on the road, they had to go back.