Photo: More than a million protesters gather in front of the National Assembly Hall as the legislature voted on the bill to impeach Yoon Suk-yeol. Credit: Yonhap.
On December 14, 2024, the National Assembly 국회 voted to pass the impeachment bill against Yoon Suk-yeol 윤석열 by the vote of 204 to 85. A crowd of more than a million protesters outside of the Assembly Hall erupted into cheers when Speaker of the Assembly U Won-sik 우원식 구고히의장 announced the result.
Out of the 108 legislators of Yoon's People Power Party 국민의힘, twelve crossed the party line to vote in favor, pushing the vote past the 2/3 supermajority threshold by four votes. Unlike the first impeachment vote on December 7, all the PPP lawmakers attended the vote.
Now impeached, Yoon's authority as the president is suspended; Prime Minister Han Deok-su 한덕수 국무총리 will serve as the acting chief executive. The Constitutional Court 헌법재판소 has up to 180 days to hear and rule on Yoon's impeachment trial. Six out of nine justices must affirm the impeachment bill to remove Yoon from the office. If Yoon is removed, a snap election for new president is to take place within 60 days from the day of the removal.
Although Yoon will continue to live in the presidential residence, he may be facing an arrest warrant soon. Several investigative authorities - the Public Prosecutors Office 검찰청, National Police Agency 경찰청 and the Corruption Investigation Office 공직자부패수사처 - have been engaged in a turf war for investigating Yoon's coup attempt, and all of them have said they will seek to arrest Yoon.
All five members of the PPP's Executive Committee 최고위원회 resigned, collapsing its leadership and automatically relieving the duties of PPP Chairman Han Dong-hun 한동훈 국민의힘 당대표. The PPP will transition into an emergency response committee 비상대책위원회 system, as the party will attempt to navigate through the schism created by Yoon's martial law declaration and impeachment.