Seoul, South Korea —(Map)
On Saturday, South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach (remove) Yoon Suk Yeol as the country’s president. The vote followed Mr. Yoon’s efforts to put the military in charge of the country earlier this month. The country’s prime minister is now acting as president.
On December 3, South Korean President Yoon declared martial law. This action put South Korea under military rule for the first time in over 40 years. Mr. Yoon even sent soldiers to the National Assembly – the country’s parliament. He asked the military to arrest some members of parliament.
Mr. Yoon has had many problems since he became president in 2022, and he has become very unpopular. South Korea’s parliament is controlled by a political party opposed to Mr. Yoon. His opponents have tried to investigate his wife’s actions, as well as several members of his government. Parliament has also blocked many of Mr. Yoon’s political efforts.

(Source: Screenshot, Republic of Korea Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Mr. Yoon claimed he was declaring martial law to help protect the country from North Korea. He also said he was upset that his government’s efforts were being blocked.
Mr. Yoon tried to keep the National Assembly from meeting, but enough members of parliament got together to officially vote to end martial law. A few hours later, Mr. Yoon agreed, and lifted his martial law declaration.
The declaration only lasted for six hours, but it created serious problems. It worried large businesses around the world, as well as the country’s allies.
In South Korea, people were angry, and worried about the return of military rule. Many people believed Mr. Yoon had illegally tried to take complete control of the government.
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The declaration of martial law only lasted for six hours, but it created serious problems. In South Korea, people were angry, and worried about the return of military rule. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered outside the National Assembly to protest Mr. Yoon’s actions. Above, protesters on December 7.
It’s clear that Mr. Yoon didn’t follow the rules for declaring martial law. He didn’t tell parliament ahead of time, as he was required to do. He also didn’t have the right to try to arrest members of parliament.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered outside the National Assembly to protest Mr. Yoon’s actions.
On December 7, parliament held a vote to impeach Mr. Yoon, and remove him from power. The vote failed after Mr. Yoon’s political party skipped the vote. They wanted Mr. Yoon to have a chance to step down on his own.
But Mr. Yoon didn’t step down. Instead, he promised to “fight to the end”.

(Source: National Assembly of South Korea [KOGL Type 1], via Wikimedia Commons.)
That upset many people, including members of Mr. Yoon’s political party. On Saturday, a second vote to impeach Mr. Yoon was held. This time, the vote passed. Twelve members of Mr. Yoon’s own political party voted to impeach him.
Mr. Yoon is now suspended as president of South Korea, and his defense secretary has been arrested. The country’s prime minister, Han Duck-soo, is acting as president. Since Mr. Han wasn’t elected, he doesn’t have the same kind of power that a president usually does.
It’s now up to South Korea’s Constitutional Court to decide if Mr. Yoon should be removed for good. The court has six months to make its decision. If the court decides to remove Mr. Yoon, South Korea will need to hold a new election for president within two months.
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