South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed to “never give up” after the country’s national assembly voted to impeach him on Saturday.
Describing his impeachment as a “temporary pause”, Yoon, who launched a failed attempt to impose military rule on Asia’s fourth-largest economy last week, said in a televised address that he was “frustrated thinking that all my efforts [as president] might have been in vain”.
“Though I am pausing for now, the journey towards the future that I have walked with the people over the past two and a half years must never stop,” he added.
Yoon’s remarks came after the national assembly voted for his impeachment by a margin of 204 to 85.
The vote means that Yoon will be suspended from his duties and his constitutional authority passed to prime minister Han Duck-soo on an interim basis while the country’s constitutional court deliberates on whether to approve Yoon’s removal as head of state.
The constitutional court is supposed to reach a verdict within six months of the parliamentary vote, but this time limit is not binding. If Yoon is removed from office, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
“My heart is very heavy,” Han told reporters after the vote as he promised to do his best to deliver a period of stable government.
Opposition parties, which hold a combined 192 seats in the 300-seat legislature, only needed the support of eight out of 108 lawmakers from the president’s People Power party (PPP) to secure the required two-thirds majority.
Yoon survived an impeachment motion last Saturday after lawmakers from the conservative PPP boycotted the vote. But the mood in the party started to shift against him on Thursday after a speech during which the president lashed out at critics and vowed to “fight to the end”.
While the official policy of the PPP remained to oppose Yoon’s impeachment, leader Han Dong-hoon said on Thursday that members should vote with their conscience. All 300 members of the national assembly participated in the vote, which was held through a secret ballot. Three abstained, while there were eight invalid ballots.
“Yoon caused a rebellion that paralysed the constitutional order,” Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), told lawmakers ahead of the vote.
“The National Assembly must suspend his duties using the powers granted by the constitution,” he added. “This is the quickest and most orderly way to resolve the situation.”
The result was welcomed with cheers and applause by the tens of thousands of people gathered outside the parliament building in Seoul to urge lawmakers to vote to impeach.
“I am so happy right now, but this is just the beginning,” said Seo Mi-ju, a demonstrator who works in education. “I will fight to the end until he is arrested and punished.”
Simon Henderson, deputy director for Asia at advocacy organisation Human Rights Watch, said that Yoon’s impeachment “serves as a reminder as to how close democratic South Korea came to the brink of martial law, recalling the country’s dark history of military dictatorship”.
“Instead, the people of South Korea and lawmakers have stood up and fought to protect their democracy and human rights,” he added. “The impeachment proceedings highlight how checks and balances are essential in stopping abuses of power and supporting the rule of law.”
Analysts said that Saturday’s vote was unlikely to mark the end of the political turmoil.
Yoon is alleged to have sent troops to storm the national assembly in a failed attempt to prevent lawmakers from voting to reject his decree imposing military rule.
Some opposition voices have suggested that prime minister Han, now the interim president, should also be impeached for his role in the martial law episode as the head of Yoon’s cabinet.
The last South Korean president to be impeached was the conservative Park Geun-hye, who was removed in 2017 following a bribery and influence scandal that triggered large street demonstrations.