South Korean leader's sudden martial law move puts his presidency at risk
South Koreaʼs parliament considers impeachment after presidentʼs short-lived martial law declaration. Opposition needs extra votes to reach two-thirds majority while Constitutional Court readies for potential trial
South Koreas political scene got shaken-up when President Yoon Suk Yeol made a quick-but-controversial martial law move just yesterday. The declaration which banned political activities and media coverage lasted less than 24 hrs (the opposition-led parliament shot it down real fast)
The constitution says parliament can start impeachment if a president breaks laws during their job. To make it happen they need 200 votes - right now the opposition has 192 seats; theyre looking for more support from Yoons own party members who dont like what he did. His wifes recent scandal isnt helping things either
The process works like this: if they get enough votes the prime-minister takes over while the Constitutional Court does its thing. The court (which now has only 6 out of 9 judges) needs to decide within half-a-year; they need 6 votes to kick someone out
- If Yoon gets removed new election happens in 2 months
- Same goes if he decides to quit
- Prime-minister becomes temp boss during this time
South Korea has seen this before - Park Geun-hye got kicked out about 7 years ago for some shady deals with her friend. She went to jail but got pardoned like 3 years ago. Before that Roh Moo-hyun faced impeachment around 20 years back for not staying politically neutral but the court said no to that one
