South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol removed from office over ill-fated declaration of martial law

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-martial-law-yoon-constitutional-court-8cdcf4944c2e3cd9edf723bc29ba51ff

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol removed from office over ill-fated declaration of martial law
By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG
Updated 9:48 PM CDT, April 3, 2025

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Constitutional Court removed impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol from office on Friday, four months after he threw South Korean 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 favorite 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.

“Given the grave negative impact on constitutional order and the significant ripple effects of the defendant’s violations, we find that the benefits of upholding the constitution by removing the defendant from office far outweigh the national losses from the removal of a president,” Moon said.

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[drray23]

1. Apparently other countries take their constitution more seriously that we do.

For all the huffing and puffing about the United States being the greatest country in the world and oldest democracy, we suck at ensuring we stay that way.