The vote by South Korea’s parliament to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday marked the culmination of a stunning political showdown sparked by his shock decision to impose martial law on the vibrant democratic country.
Yoon, whose short-lived decree triggered weeks of protests and political turmoil, was suspended from office, after at least 12 members of his own ruling party voted in favor of his impeachment following his refusal to resign.
But the fate of the embattled leader is far from sealed.
Yoon now awaits a top court to deliberate the impeachment motion and decide whether he will be formally removed from the presidency or reinstated in office – a process that could take up to six months.
Meanwhile, the former prosecutor-turned-politician has been banned from leaving the country and is facing a string of investigations, including potential charges of leading an insurrection – a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Here’s what you need to know about Yoon’s future:
Long road to formal impeachment
Saturday’s impeachment vote – met with jubilation among protesters outside parliament – is only the first step in a potentially long and challenging process to formally end Yoon’s presidency.
The next move now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has up to 180 days to decide whether to uphold or reject the impeachment vote. In the meantime, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is serving as acting president.
The court met for the first time to discuss Yoon’s case on Monday and announced plans to hold its first pretrial hearing on December 27.
It vowed to take the case as a “top priority” among other impeachment cases the opposition has pushed for against Yoon’s administration, including the justice minister, prosecutors and other senior officials.
In 2016, it took the Constitutional Court three months to reach the decision to remove Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female leader and sitting president to be thrown out of office by impeachment. Park was sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption and abuse of power but later pardoned.
Another predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, survived his impeachment in 2004 after the constitutional court rejected the motion following two months of deliberation. He went on to serve out his five-year term.
This time around, the Constitutional Court’s deliberations on Yoon’s future will be complicated by another factor: the nine-member court currently only has six justices, due to a delay in filling vacancies left by retired justices.
Under South Korea’s constitution, at least six justices must approve an impeachment for it to be upheld. That means the court’s current justices would have to vote unanimously in support of the impeachment to formally remove Yoon, unless it fills the empty positions in the coming weeks.
The opposition parties and the ruling party are aiming to appoint three justices by the end of the month.
If the Constitutional Court upholds Yoon’s impeachment, he would become the shortest-serving president in South Korea’s democratic history. The country must then hold new presidential elections within 60 days.
Insurrection probes
While Yoon has been suspended from exercising his powers, he has not been officially removed from office. That means he still has presidential immunity from most criminal charges – except for insurrection or treason.
South Korea’s police, parliament, prosecutors and an anti-corruption body have launched separate investigations into Yoon on treason allegations over the martial law incident.
A joint investigation team involving police, an anti-corruption agency and the Defense Ministry has accused Yoon of being the “ringleader of an insurrection” and abusing his power. On Monday, the team tried to serve a notice demanding Yoon appear for questioning on Wednesday, but the presidential office declined to pass on the request, an official from the team told reporters.
On Sunday, Yoon ignored a summons from prosecutors who are conducting a separate investigation into his martial law declaration. The prosecutors made a second request on Monday, though the summons date was not publicized, according to Yonhap.
Last week, the head of South Korea’s anti-corruption agency said his office would seek to detain Yoon if conditions are met.
“If the situation allows, we will attempt to make an emergency arrest or an arrest based on a court warrant,” Oh Dong-woon, the chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, told a parliamentary meeting.
On the same day, South Korean police tried to raid the presidential office but were blocked from entry.
South Korean prosecutors had earlier detained former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, who allegedly recommended martial law and resigned in the wake of the scandal. Kim attempted to end his own life in custody last week, according to the head of the country’s correctional service.
