{"id":812687,"date":"2024-12-17T22:23:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T04:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/whats-going-to-happen-next-in-south-korea\/"},"modified":"2024-12-17T22:23:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T04:23:42","slug":"whats-going-to-happen-next-in-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/whats-going-to-happen-next-in-south-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s going to happen next in South Korea?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Protesters have taken to the streets to call for Yoon to go – Copyright AFP Philip FONG<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n

President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an impeachment vote this Saturday after briefly imposing martial law in South Korea.<\/p>\n

AFP looks at how the dramatic events of the past few days unfolded in a country where democracy had been assumed to be firmly anchored \u2014 and what might happen next.<\/p>\n

\u2013 What did Yoon do? \u2013<\/p>\n

Yoon announced late Tuesday in an address to the nation that martial law was being imposed, for the first time in more than four decades.<\/p>\n

The suspension of civilian rule was to protect the country from \u201cthreats posed by North Korea\u2019s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people\u2019s freedom and happiness,\u201d Yoon said.<\/p>\n

Then a six-point decree from army chief General Park An-su, installed as martial law commander, banned political activities and parties, \u201cfalse propaganda\u201d, strikes and \u201cgatherings that incite social unrest\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2013 What happened at parliament? \u2013<\/p>\n

Security forces sealed the National Assembly, helicopters landed on the roof and soldiers tried to lock down the building, seemingly to prevent lawmakers from getting inside.<\/p>\n

But as parliamentary staffers blocked the soldiers with sofas and fire extinguishers, enough MPs \u2014 some leaping over barriers \u2014 got inside to vote down Yoon\u2019s move.<\/p>\n

This brought cheers from the thousands of protesters braving bitter temperatures outside, many waving national flags and chanting for Yoon to be arrested.<\/p>\n

Several tense hours followed before Yoon appeared on television again at around 4:30 am (1930 GMT Tuesday) to rescind martial law.<\/p>\n

\u2013 What is next for Yoon? \u2013<\/p>\n

On Wednesday six opposition parties filed an impeachment motion, which will go before parliament on Saturday at around 7:00 pm (1000 GMT).<\/p>\n

If it passes, Yoon will be suspended pending a verdict by the Constitutional Court which has to rule within 180 days. In the meantime the prime minister would be acting president.<\/p>\n

If the president is impeached, a new presidential election must be held within 60 days.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Will the impeachment motion pass? \u2013<\/p>\n

An opposition block hold 192 seats in the 300-member parliament, so the motion needs only eight defections from the president\u2019s People Power Party (PPP) for the necessary two-thirds majority.<\/p>\n

However on Thursday the head of the PPP said that while he had demanded Yoon leave the party over his \u201cunconstitutional martial law\u201d, he would block the impeachment motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll 108 lawmakers of the People Power Party will stay united to reject the president\u2019s impeachment,\u201d party floor leader Choo Kyung-ho said.<\/p>\n

But whether they all toe the line \u2014 in particular 18 PPP lawmakers who voted against martial law \u2014 remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u2013 What about legal proceedings? \u2013<\/p>\n

Even if Yoon \u2014 who has gone to ground since the early hours of Wednesday \u2014 avoids impeachment, the 63-year-old could still face legal problems.<\/p>\n

Police are investigating him for \u201cinsurrection\u201d, a crime which is not covered by presidential immunity and can carry the death penalty.<\/p>\n

Police are also probing Interior Minister Lee Sang-min and Kim Yong-hyun, the defence minister whose resignation was accepted today and who is now barred from leaving the country.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers have been grilling senior figures, including army chief of staff General Park, who acted as Yoon\u2019s martial law commander and who says he was not informed beforehand.<\/p>\n

\u2013 What explains Yoon\u2019s behaviour? \u2013<\/p>\n

Yoon has lurched from scandal to scandal including over a deadly Halloween crush in 2022 and his wife accepting a designer handbag.<\/p>\n

His mother-in-law was sentenced to one year in prison for forging financial documents in a real estate deal. She was released in May 2024.<\/p>\n

More recently the opposition slashed Yoon\u2019s budget. He complained that \u201call key budgets essential to the nation\u2019s core functions\u201d were being cut.<\/p>\n

burs-stu\/ceb\/pdw<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"AFP\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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AFP
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Protesters have taken to the streets to call for Yoon to go – Copyright AFP Philip FONG President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an impeachment vote this Saturday after briefly imposing martial law in South Korea. AFP looks at how the dramatic events of the past few days unfolded in a country where democracy had been<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":812688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[903,947],"tags":[6972,8724],"class_list":["post-812687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-going","category-whats","tag-going","tag-whats"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}