South Korea’s Constitutional Court has removed impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol from office today, four months after he threw the nation’s politics into turmoil by declaring martial law and sending troops to parliament in an ill-fated effort to break through legislative gridlock.
The unanimous verdict comes more than three months after the opposition-controlled National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon.
South Korea must now hold a national election within two months to find a new president.
Surveys show Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president.
In a nationally televised verdict, the court’s acting chief Moon Hyung-bae said the eight-member bench upheld Yoon’s impeachment because his martial law decree seriously violated the constitution and other laws.
