South Korea’s National Assembly voted on Saturday to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, suspending him from office after his shocking proclamation of martial emergency earlier this month sparked widespread outrage and pushed the country into a constitutional crisis. Yoon’s suspension from office follows the impeachment vote. Under South Korea’s Constitution, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will serve as interim leader.

“This is a victory for the South Korean people and democracy,” said Park Chan-dae, the Opposition floor leader, during a press conference. The proposal was approved 204-85 on the floor of the National Assembly.

Yoon reiterated his determination to challenge the impeachment in the Constitutional Court, which will now decide whether to reinstate or formally remove him, a process that might last up to six months. “I will never give up,” he declared in a televised statement shortly after the vote. “Holding in my heart all the criticism, encouragement, and support directed at me, I will do my best for the country until the very last moment,” he told reporters. It was the National Assembly’s second vote on Yoon’s impeachment proposal. Yoon survived an impeachment vote last Saturday because the majority of governing party MPs abstained from the floor vote. As public protests against Yoon’s impeachment continued, some People Power Party lawmakers indicated their determination to vote for it again.

When the Speaker revealed that the votes in favour of impeachment had surpassed the 200 required for passage, legislators erupted in applause and gasps. According to the results, 12 MPs from Yoon’s party have joined the Opposition in their efforts to impeach him. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered near the parliament, roaring in jubilation, waving banners and brandishing colourful K-pop glow sticks, as a major activist shouted on stage: “We have preserved constitutional order!”

Yoon announced martial law on December 3, accusing the opposition of paralyzing his government, and soldiers were sent to the National Assembly. Lawmakers were able to vote down the declaration, causing Yoon to reverse his decision within hours. It was the first declaration of martial law by a South Korean president since the country’s military dictatorship ended in the late 1980s.

The impeachment was the latest twist in a rocky term that began in 2022, when Yoon narrowly won reelection on a conservative, pro-business agenda. Protests and political gridlock have been almost constant throughout his reign. Opposition parties and numerous experts accuse Yoon of rebellion, citing a law that defines rebellion as the staging of a disturbance against established state authority in order to weaken the constitution. They further claim that a President in South Korea can only declare martial rule during wars or similar circumstances and has no authority to suspend parliament’s functions even under martial law.

According to the impeachment motion, Yoon “committed rebellion that hurts peace in the Republic of Korea by staging a series of riots”. It claimed that Yoon’s mobilization of military and police personnel threatened the National Assembly and the public, and that his martial law order was intended to undermine the Constitution.

Yoon denied the claims of rebellion in a furious speech on Thursday, calling his edict an act of governance. Yoon, a conservative, said he intended to deliver a warning to the main liberal Opposition Democratic Party, calling it “a monster” and “anti-state forces” that he claimed have used parliamentary power to impeach key officials and damage the government’s budget package for next year. He argued that the deployment of troops was intended to maintain order rather than disrupt it.

Democratic Party chairman Lee Jae-myung described Yoon’s statement as a “mad declaration of war” against his own people. According to observers, Yoon’s address indicated a focus on legal preparations to defend his martial law declaration before the Constitutional Court, despite the fact that opinion polls showed more than 70% of South Koreans favoured his impeachment.