President Yoon Suk Yeol has been removed from office, marking only the second presidential ousting in South Korea’s constitutional history, following the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.
At 11 a.m. on Friday, the Constitutional Court held a hearing in the Grand Trial Chamber in Seoul’s Jongno District to announce its verdict on Yoon’s impeachment. The justices unanimously ruled in favor of his removal.
Key issues in Yoon’s impeachment trial included: the legal grounds and procedures for declaring martial law, the first edict issued by the Martial Law Command, the deployment of military and police forces to disrupt National Assembly proceedings, the unauthorized military-led search of the National Election Commission, and orders to detain high-profile political figures.
The Constitutional Court determined that Yoon had committed constitutional and legal violations and that these breaches were severe enough to justify his removal from office.