All 8 Judges Unanimously "Remove President Yoon Seok-yeol"... Second Time in Constitutional History [Yoon Seok-yeol Removal]

The Constitutional Court dismissed President Yoon Seok-yeol on the 4th. With this, President Yoon became the second president in the history of the Republic of Korea to be impeached, following former President Park Geun-hye.

Yonhap News

Moon Hyung-bae, Acting Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, read the impeachment ruling at around 11:22 a.m., stating, "President Yoon Seok-yeol is dismissed." The effect of the dismissal took place immediately, and from that moment, President Yoon lost his position.

The Court stated, "The respondent mobilized military and police forces to damage constitutional institutions such as the National Assembly and violated the fundamental human rights of the people, thereby neglecting the duty to uphold the Constitution," adding, "The constitutional benefit gained by dismissing the respondent overwhelmingly outweighs the national loss caused by the dismissal."

At 11 a.m. that day, the Constitutional Court held the impeachment ruling session in the grand courtroom and unanimously accepted the National Assembly's impeachment motion. This came 122 days after President Yoon declared the emergency martial law on December 3, and 111 days after the impeachment motion was filed on December 14 of last year.

The Court examined all five key issues in President Yoon's impeachment case: ▲the unconstitutionality and illegality of the December 3 emergency martial law ▲the substance of Martial Law Proclamation No. 1 ▲obstruction of National Assembly activities ▲attempts to seize control of the Central Election Commission ▲and orders to arrest key political figures. All were deemed grounds for impeachment.

No justices dissented, though some added supplementary opinions on detailed issues while agreeing with the conclusion.

The Court found that although there was no national emergency on December 3 last year, President Yoon illegally declared martial law in violation of constitutional requirements. Regarding President Yoon's claim that it was a "warning and appeal martial law," the Court stated, "This is not the purpose of martial law as defined by the Martial Law Act," and "The respondent's claim cannot be accepted."

Allegations that President Yoon tried to pull out lawmakers gathered at the National Assembly to obstruct the resolution to lift martial law, and that he ordered the arrest of key politicians and legal professionals through the Defense Counterintelligence Command, were also recognized as grounds for impeachment.

Statements from former National Intelligence Service First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won and former Army Special Warfare Command Commander Kwak Jong-geun, who appeared as witnesses during the impeachment trial, were all acknowledged as factual. President Yoon's side had previously challenged their credibility.

Regarding the so-called "withdrawal of the charge of rebellion" controversy, the Court ruled, "This cannot be seen as a change in the grounds for impeachment," and "The National Assembly's impeachment motion is procedurally valid."