Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ousted from office after unanimous Constitutional Court ruling

The Constitutional Court in a historic ruling on Friday upheld a decision to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol for imposing martial law on Dec. 3.

The Constitutional Court justices began reading the verdict around 11 a.m. At 11:22 a.m. the Constitutional Court upheld Yoon’s impeachment in an 8-0 unanimous vote.

Yoon was ousted from office the moment the verdict was decided. He became the second Korean president to be impeached and ousted from office.

The eight Constitutional Court justices reached a verdict 111 days after the National Assembly, which is controlled by the liberal Democratic Party (DP), voted to impeach Yoon for declaring of martial law on Dec. 3 last year.

Yoon has been accused of illegally declaring martial law, attempting to unlawfully suspend all political activities, sending special forces to prevent lawmakers from overturning his decree, deploying troops to the National Election Commission and ordering the arrest of high-ranking politicians and judges.

However, the court said that Yoon’s of martial law declaration did not meet the legal requirement to constitute a national crisis.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]