The Constitutional Court unanimously decided to dismiss President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 4th. As of 11:22 a.m. on this day, Yoon lost his presidency.
Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae read the ruling, stating, “We dismiss President Yoon Suk-yeol.” This decision comes 122 days after Yoon declared martial law on December 3 of the previous year and 111 days after the impeachment motion was filed by the National Assembly on December 14.
The Constitutional Court determined that the impeachment motion against President Yoon was not illegal, even in the absence of an investigation by the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The court also rejected President Yoon’s claim that there was no vested interest to protect since the martial law had been lifted through the National Assembly’s resolution. Acting Chief Justice Moon stated, “Even if the martial law in question has been lifted, the grounds for impeachment had already arisen due to the martial law, so the interest in judgment cannot be denied.”
The court found that President Yoon obstructed the National Assembly’s exercise of its power by deploying military and police forces to control the access of assembly members and ordering their removal. It stated that President Yoon violated the constitutional provision that grants the National Assembly the power to demand the lifting of martial law and infringed on the members’ right to deliberation and voting, as well as their parliamentary immunity.
Acting Chief Justice Moon emphasized that “the respondent prevented the National Assembly from exercising its power by deploying military forces for political purposes, causing the military, whose mission is to ensure national security and territorial defense and usually serves the country, to confront ordinary citizens.” He added, “This violated the political neutrality of the military and the constitutional duty of supreme command of the armed forces.”