“FIGHT TO THE END”
The impeachment motion was carried as at least 12 members of Yoon’s People Power Party joined the opposition parties, which control 192 seats in the 300-member national assembly, clearing the two-thirds threshold needed.
The number of lawmakers supporting impeachment was 204, with 85 against, three abstentions and eight invalid ballots.
The political crisis has sparked disarray in the ruling party, with its chief Han Dong-hoon defying calls to resign after backing impeachment as “inevitable to normalise the situation”.
Yoon shocked the nation on Dec 3 when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers to root out what he called “anti-state forces” and overcome obstructionist political opponents.
He rescinded the declaration barely six hours later, after parliament defied troops and police to vote against the decree. But it plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and triggered widespread calls for him to step down on the grounds that he had broken the law.
Yoon later apologised but defended his decision and resisted calls to resign.
Opposition parties launched the fresh impeachment vote, supported by large demonstrations.
Yoon is also under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over the martial law declaration, and authorities have banned him from travelling overseas.
In another defiant speech on Thursday, Yoon vowed to “fight to the end”, defending his martial law decree as necessary to overcome political deadlock and protect the country from domestic politicians who he said were undermining democracy.
