The screen shows footage of South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol delivering a speech to the nation at Seoul Station in Seoul, South Korea on December 7, 2024.
Jung Sung-joon | Getty Images News | Getty Images
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached in a vote triggered by a failed attempt to briefly impose martial law in early December.
If the current president is dismissed or resigns, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
An impeachment motion tabled by South Korea’s National Assembly on Dec. 7 failed to gain 200 of the required 300 votes in favor after lawmakers allied with Yoon’s People Power Party withdrew before raising their hands. The tide has since turned, with People’s Party leader Han Dong-hoon on Thursday appearing to back parliament’s vote to impeach Yoon and calling for the establishment of an ethics committee to discuss his resignation from the party, According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
The motion was launched by opposition lawmakers after Yoon briefly imposed martial law on December 3 for the first time since a 1979 military coup, citing the need to “protect the freedom-based constitutional order and eradicate shameful pro-North Korea anti-state elements”. Groups that are stealing the freedom and happiness of our people,” According to NBC News. The measure was revoked within six hours, raising questions that Yoon Eun-hye might try to impose martial law nationwide for a second time.
The president has faced a series of scandals since taking office in 2022, many surrounding his wife, businesswoman Kim Keon Hee. Plunged to 17.3% In the days after the Dec. 3 incident, Yoon initially said he left his fate in the hands of his party, but he has undauntedly resisted growing calls from opposition lawmakers and peaceful protesters to step down. He has been banned from leaving the country.
Yoon is not the first South Korean president to face an impeachment vote since the turn of the century; Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye were removed from office due to such proceedings in 2004 and 2016 respectively.
On Thursday, Yin delivered a lengthy and defiant address to the nation, pledging to “fight to the end” and “stand firm.” According to NBC News.
“The opposition parties are going crazy right now, claiming that declaring martial law is tantamount to rebellion,” Yin said. “Is everything they say true?”
The political turmoil first rattled markets and raised concerns about the stability of democracy in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, but John Woods, chief investment officer at Long O Group, said South Korea watchers were now “looking at the crisis” and paying renewed attention. Local profit.
“I think the endgame is definitely coming, no doubt around the first quarter of next year,” Woods told CNBC’s Tanvir Gill on Thursday. “This kind of volatility in the political context is something we need to think about very seriously. thing. But of course, (South Korea) South Korea’s broad value as an agent of artificial intelligence is also something we cannot ignore.”
Technology, chips and booming artificial intelligence industries play central role in South Korea’s economy, IMF says predict It will grow 2.5% this year.
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