South Korea’s Constitutional Court has removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office after unanimously upholding his impeachment. The ruling, announced on April 4, found that Yoon’s declaration of martial law in December was unconstitutional. His removal ends his term more than two years early.
The court’s 8-0 decision followed Yoon’s December 3, 2024, declaration of martial law—a move that lasted just six hours before lawmakers convened to annul it. The president had deployed around 280 soldiers and police to the National Assembly, claiming the deployment was meant to maintain order during a time of growing political conflict. Opposition lawmakers and several top military officials later testified that Yoon had ordered security forces to detain legislators and block a floor vote that would challenge his decree.
Ten days after the martial law announcement, the 300-member National Assembly—controlled by the liberal opposition—voted 204–85 to impeach the president. A dozen members of Yoon’s own People Power Party joined the opposition, highlighting deep internal divisions.
The impeachment accused Yoon of violating the Constitution, abusing his authority, and taking illegal actions that disrupted the democratic process. The charge of insurrection was initially included but later removed from the impeachment motion to focus the case on constitutional violations.
The Constitutional Court’s decision makes Yoon the first South Korean leader to be removed from office over martial law since the country’s return to civilian rule. The ruling is final and triggers a snap presidential election, which must be held within 60 days. Early polls suggest opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, a frequent critic of Yoon, is the current frontrunner to succeed him.
In its explanation, the court found that Yoon’s declaration failed to meet the legal standards required to justify martial law, calling it a misuse of presidential powers during a time when the country faced no direct national emergency. The decision also criticized Yoon’s decision to send troops to the Assembly, saying it directly interfered with the constitutional authority of the Legislature.
Yoon’s team did not attend the televised verdict, citing public safety concerns. Though the court’s deliberation took 38 days—the longest such review in South Korea’s history—it concluded that upholding constitutional principles required his removal. In a written statement read during the hearing, the court said the damage caused by Yoon’s actions outweighed any cost of removing a sitting president.
Following the court’s ruling, Yoon’s party accepted the decision but warned that political motivations had shaped the impeachment process from the beginning. The president had previously defended his actions as an emergency attempt to restore government function, citing what he called dangerous obstruction from the opposition, including repeated efforts to impeach officials and block funding for national security programs.
Yoon also raised concerns about the integrity of South Korea’s election systems, stating that digital vulnerabilities and suspicious activities had been ignored by the country’s National Election Commission.
In a letter to the public dated January 15, he admitted ordering 290 troops to the Commission’s building to assess reported weaknesses in vote-counting systems. The Commission rejected the claims, calling the deployment unlawful.
Although the insurrection charge was dropped from the impeachment process, prosecutors are still pursuing it in a separate criminal trial. Yoon was detained in January but later released after a court found procedural problems with the arrest. The trial is expected to begin on April 24 and could carry severe penalties if he is convicted.
Yoon’s removal has plunged South Korea into a period of political instability not seen in years. The country, a close ally of the United States and the 12th largest economy in the world, now prepares for a high-stakes election under the cloud of one of its most serious constitutional crises since the military rule of the 1980s.