Impeachment process against Yoon Suk Yeol

On 4 December 2024, six opposition parties submitted a bill to the National Assembly to impeach South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol after his declaration of martial law the previous day. The National Assembly will vote on it on 6 or 7 December.

Impeachment process against Yoon Suk Yeol
Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022
Accused	Yoon Suk Yeol (President of South Korea)
Date	4 December 2024 (2024-12-04) to present
Outcome	Pending
Cause	2024 South Korean martial law

Background

Main article: 2024 South Korean martial law

Impeachment procedure

If the National Assembly votes with a two-thirds majority to impeach Yoon, prime minister Han Duck-soo will become acting president and six of the nine Constitutional Court of Korea justices must vote to remove Yoon from office; if he is removed, an early election will be held within the next 60 days. The last president to be impeached was Park Geun-hye in 2017, who was ultimately removed from office.

Martial law declaration

On 3 December, Yoon declared martial law in South Korea, stating that martial law was necessary to defend South Korea from anti-state forces. Military and police forces attempted to prevent legislators from entering the Korea National Assembly Proceeding Hall, causing clashes between the police and military, protesters, and parliamentary aides. 190 members of parliament who were present in the chamber unanimously voted to lift the martial law, causing Yoon to rescind martial law around 04:00 KST on 4 December.

Process

Six opposition parties submitted the bill to impeach Yoon during a plenary session of the National Assembly on 4 December. Han Dong-hoon, the leader of Yoon's People Power Party, called for Yoon's cabinet to resign and for Kim Yong-hyun to be fired.