On 14 December 2024, Yoon Suk Yeol, then president of South Korea, was impeached by the National Assembly following the passage of an impeachment bill with 204 of the 300 members voting in favor. This action came in response to Yoon's declaration of martial law on 3 December 2024.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo assumed the role of acting president pending the Constitutional Court's decision on whether to accept the impeachment. Han was himself impeached on 27 December 2024, and first deputy prime minister Choi Sang-mok became acting president. On 24 March 2025, Han was acquitted by the Constitutional Court and returned to the role of acting president.
The court upheld the impeachment of Yoon in a unanimous 8–0 decision on 4 April 2025, removing Yoon from office. Thus, Han continued as acting president until resigning, along with Choi, on 1 May 2025, which left second deputy prime minister Lee Ju-ho as acting president. The court determined that Yoon's five major illegal acts, including ordering the military and police to block lawmakers from entering the National Assembly, ordering the arrest of judges and Supreme Court justices, and illegally declaring martial law, were serious violations of the Constitution. Per the Constitution, a snap election was held on 3 June 2025, 60 days after Yoon's removal, with Lee Jae Myung being elected to succeed Yoon as president.
An earlier impeachment motion was put to a parliamentary vote on 7 December 2024, but failed because the number of attending legislators did not meet the quorum required for its passage, as members of the ruling People Power Party boycotted the vote.
Opinion polling on the Yoon Suk Yeol presidency throughout 2024 was increasingly negative. The declaration of martial law hardened these views, with many surveyed in South Korea believing Yoon should resign voluntarily, or that he should be formally removed from office.
Background
South Korea has been governed as a presidential democracy under the 1987 constitution, which provides for a strong independent executive. As a result, presidents can only be removed by a difficult impeachment process, rather than a simple vote of no confidence. Only one Korean president, Park Geun-hye, had previously been removed from office through impeachment, which occurred in 2017, also with a unanimous 8–0 decision of the Constitutional Court. Before being impeached himself, Yoon assisted in the prosecution of Park. Roh Moo-hyun was impeached in 2004 on accusations of illegal electioneering, incompetence, and economic mismanagement. However, the Constitutional Court cleared him of two infractions and deemed the remaining charge not serious enough to warrant removal, allowing him to remain in office.
Impeachment procedure
The procedure for impeachment is set out in the 10th Constitution of South Korea in 1987. Article 65, Clause 1, specifies that the National Assembly may impeach the president, prime minister, or other state officials if they violate the constitution or other laws while performing official duties.
For an impeachment motion against a sitting president to pass, a majority of the National Assembly must propose it, and a two-thirds supermajority – 200 out of 300 members – must vote in favor. Once passed, the individual is immediately suspended from their duties pending a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Korea. The scope of impeachment is limited to removal from public office, with no further penalties imposed through this process.
According to the Constitutional Court Act passed in 1988, the Constitutional Court must render a decision within 180 days after it receives any case for adjudication, including impeachment cases. If the respondent has already left office before the decision, the case is dismissed. Formal removal of the president requires six of the nine justices voting in favor. Due to one vacancy, President Yoon Suk Yeol's removal needed six out of eight judges to vote to remove him from office. Article 23 of the Constitutional Court Act requires at least seven justices for deliberation.
If the National Assembly impeaches the president, the president is immediately suspended from office, with the prime minister assuming the role of acting president. In the event of the president's resignation or removal by the Constitutional Court, an early presidential election is required to be held within 60 days. During this interim period, the prime minister continues to serve as acting president until the election of a new president.
Previous calls to impeach Yoon
In July 2024, an online petition started on the National Assembly's website calling for Yoon's impeachment gathered over a million signatures, with all petitions with over 50,000 signatures required under law to be reviewed by a parliamentary committee. The website crashed, with over 22,000 people concurrently waiting to access the website with an estimated wait time of 30 minutes. In November 2024, over 3,000 professors and researchers at various universities signed a letter asking Yoon to resign. One interviewer speculated that the letter had received the highest number of signatures from academics since protests during the Park Geun-hye administration. On 28 November, 1,466 South Korean Catholic priests also called for Yoon to be impeached, issuing a statement titled "How could a person be like this" (어째서 사람이 이 모양인가), which claimed that he is a puppet of private interests who has no idea what he does or who he is and who had handed over the authority entrusted to him by the people to his wife.
Martial law declaration
On 3 December, Yoon declared martial law in South Korea, stating that martial law was necessary to defend the country from anti-state forces. Military and police forces attempted to prevent legislators from entering the National Assembly Proceeding Hall, causing clashes between the security forces, protesters, and legislative aides. All 190 legislators who were present in the chamber unanimously voted to demand the lifting of martial law, forcing Yoon to lift martial law around 04:00 KST on 4 December.
Impeachment
On 4 December, 190 legislators across six opposition parties submitted a motion for impeachment, intending to discuss the bill the following day; the DPK later planned a vote on 7 December. At a meeting with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and PPP party leader Han Dong-hoon, Yoon said that he would not resign, there was "no wrongdoing" in his declaration, it was a "warning" to the opposition, and it was to prevent the DPK's "reckless impeachment actions". Yoon also defended plans to arrest Han Dong-hoon for going to the National Assembly. On 5 December, the PPP announced they would oppose impeachment, following an emergency meeting the previous evening. However, at an emergency meeting on 6 December, Han Dong-hoon said it was necessary to "promptly suspend [Yoon] from his duties to protect the Republic of Korea", citing Yoon's orders to arrest and detain key politicians during martial law, including Han himself. That same day, Cho Kyoung-tae voiced his support for Yoon's impeachment, becoming the first MP from the PPP to do so.
During an investigation by the National Assembly on 5 December, Army Chief Park An-su said he had been handed the text of the martial law notice only on the night of its declaration and was unaware of soldiers being deployed to the Assembly. Deputy Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho said he had only learned about the declaration on the news and that Kim Yong-hyun ordered soldiers to enter the Assembly and prevent lawmakers from gathering. He also apologized for failing to prevent the troop deployment, saying that he opposed it. Separately, the National Police Agency announced that Yoon was under investigation for insurrection following a complaint from the opposition. Park submitted his resignation to Yoon, which he rejected.
On 6 December, Special Forces Commander Kwak Jong-guen said he had ordered soldiers present at the Assembly on 3 December not to enter the session hall and ruled out the provision of live ammunition and harm against civilians. He also said that he would not follow such orders in the event of martial law being declared again. Later that day, the Defense Ministry suspended Kwak, Yeo In-hyung and Capital Defense Command Commander Lee Jin-woo for their involvement in martial law. They, along with Park An-su, were also subjected to a ban on overseas travel. Hong Jang-won, the deputy director of the NIS, also said that he was ordered by Yoon to arrest politicians during martial law during a series of phone calls. This was denied by Director Cho Tae-yong, who said the NIS has no such powers. The National Archives of Korea issued notices to the Presidential Office, the Defense Ministry and other relevant agencies, to preserve documents, video footage and other records relating to the declaration of martial law amid concerns over their discarding. The Presidential Office said it did not possess the detailed minutes of the cabinet meeting that preceded the declaration.
On 7 December, Yoon apologized for declaring martial law, describing it as a product of desperation as the head of state and pledging that there would not be a second martial law declaration. He also pledged to entrust measures related to his term in office to the PPP. Lee Jae Myung called the apology "disappointing" and insisted on Yoon's resignation or impeachment. He also criticized Yoon's power-sharing arrangement with the PPP as "destroying the constitutional order", while DPK Floor Leader Park Chan-dae called the arrangement a "second coup". Later that day, the impeachment vote failed after 195 lawmakers of the 200 needed to impeach attended, following a boycott by all but three MPs from the PPP. The decision led to massive public anger against the PPP, with a petition filed at the National Assembly website calling for the PPP's dissolution obtaining more than 171,000 supporters, exceeding the 50,000 needed to have the proposal submitted to the standing committee.
Following the vote, Han Dong-hoon said that the PPP would continue to "push for the president's orderly retreat to minimize chaos", and said Yoon would be "effectively stripped of his duties until he retreats" while Prime Minister Han Duck-soo managed state affairs "in consultation with the party"; a party special task force proposed that Yoon leave office in February or March 2025 and elections to replace him held in April or May. The DPK said that it would continue to file impeachment motions against Yoon on a weekly basis in response. That same day, the DPK filed an impeachment motion against Interior Minister Lee Sang-min for mishandling the martial law situation. Facing mounting pressure, Lee resigned on 8 December.
On 8 December, Han Dong-hoon said that the PPP had "effectively obtained [Yoon's] promise to step down" in exchange for the party blocking his impeachment, and said Yoon would "not interfere in state affairs, including foreign affairs", even before his "orderly early resignation". On 12 December, Yoon issued a statement vowing to "fight to the end", resisting the push for his resignation and claiming the martial law declaration was a legitimate "act of governance" against "forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralysing the country's government". Yoon accused the opposition of disrupting the constitution instead through obstructionism: "The opposition parties are currently dancing a frenzied sword dance, saying that the declaration of emergency martial law was a crime of insurrection, but is that really so? Who are the forces currently paralyzing the government and disrupting the constitution of Korea?", while further claiming that the opposition majority National Assembly had taken North Korea's side in disputes, and that it was "a monster that destroys the constitutional order of liberal democracy".
Following Yoon's statement, Han Dong-hoon called for Yoon's impeachment and convened an ethics committee to discuss Yoon's expulsion from the PPP. Later that day, the DPK filed its second motion to impeach Yoon, and the National Assembly passed impeachment motions against Justice Minister Park Sung-jae and KNP Commissioner Cho Ji-ho. By the end of the same day, seven PPP lawmakers and four PPP metropolitan and provincial executives (Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, South Chungcheong Province Governor Kim Tae-heum, North Chungcheong Province Governor Kim Young-hwan, and Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok) declared their support for Yoon's impeachment.
On 14 December, the National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon, with 204 lawmakers, including 12 from the PPP, supporting impeachment. Yoon's presidential powers were suspended immediately upon the delivery of the impeachment resolution to the Presidential Office. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stepped in as acting president, and the impeachment motion proceeded to the Constitutional Court. On 27 December, 192 MPs in the National Assembly voted to impeach Han Duck-soo for blocking investigations against Yoon and his wife, colluding with Yoon on martial law and blocking the appointment of justices to fill vacancies in the Constitutional Court. Despite being boycotted by the PPP, Han's impeachment was made possible with a simple majority because Han was Prime Minister rather than the elected president. This made Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok the new acting president. On 21 March 2025, the DPK and four other opposition parties submitted a motion in the National Assembly to impeach Choi, citing charges that included abetting Yoon's martial law declaration. On 24 March 2025, the Constitutional Court overturned Han's impeachment, reinstating him as acting president. On 1 May, Choi resigned minutes before the National Assembly was set to vote on his impeachment, prompting the suspension of the proceedings.