South Korea’s parliament has impeached interim President Han Duck-soo for imposing a brief martial law, plunging the country deeper into political chaos.
The Constitutional Court on Friday announced that suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol would be tried soon.
The impeachment of Han, who has been acting president since Yoon was impeached on December 14 for imposing martial law on December 3, has put South Korea’s once-vibrant democratic success story into unfamiliar territory.
The ruling People Power Party members surrounded the speaker’s podium and chanted that the vote was illegal and that parliament had committed “tyranny,” causing the opposition parties’ motion to pass with 192 of the 300 votes.
Accusing Han of “acting for insurrection,” opposition leader Lee Jae-myung announced ahead of the parliamentary session that his Democratic Party, which controls the majority of parliament, will proceed with the plan to remove the acting president.
“The only way to normalise the country is to swiftly root out all the insurrection forces,” Lee said in a fiery speech, adding the party was acting on the public order to eradicate those who have put the country at risk.
There has been overwhelming public support for Yoon’s removal, according to opinion polls conducted after his martial law attempt.
The main opposition Democratic Party launched a plan to impeach Han on Thursday after he declined to appoint three judges to fill vacancies at the Constitutional Court, claiming it would go beyond his acting duty.
Until just before voting began, it was unclear how many votes were needed to impeach Han as acting leader.
The threshold for a prime minister is a simple majority, while a two-thirds majority is needed for a president.
Speaker Woo Won-shik declared a simple majority would constitute parliamentary approval.
Han said in a statement after the vote that he would step aside to avoid more chaos and will await a Constitutional Court ruling on his impeachment.
By law, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok will assume the acting presidency.
Choi earlier pleaded with parliament to withdraw the plan to impeach Han, saying it would do serious damage to the country’s economy.
The vote to determine Han’s fate comes on the same day the Constitutional Court held its first hearing in a case reviewing whether to overturn the impeachment and reinstate Yoon or remove him permanently from office. It has 180 days to reach a decision.
