hankyoreh

A person holds up a banner reading “The Republic of Korea shall be a democratic republic,” the first article of the country’s Constitution, while celebrating the Constitutional Court of Korea’s decision removing Yoon Suk-yeol from the presidency on April 4, 2025. (Kim Tae-hyeong/Hankyoreh)

At long last, the fog of injustice and chaos has cleared and the light of justice shines on Korea once more. Yoon Suk-yeol is no longer president after inviting his own demise less than three years into office by declaring martial law on Dec. 3 in flagrant contempt of the Constitution. Our imperiled Constitution has been restored by popular sovereignty and our democracy has been powerfully reclaimed.
 
“Holding: The respondent, President Yoon Suk-yeol, is removed from office,” the Constitutional Court ruled on Friday, in a unanimous decision by all eight justices on the bench. Without a doubt, this was a victory for the Korean people, for our Constitution and for our democracy.
 
On Friday, the Constitutional Court found that Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration had not met necessary conditions, violated procedural requirements and that all of the five grounds for impeachment submitted by the National Assembly — the National Assembly takeover that mobilized the military and the police, the first decree issued under martial law that forbade all National Assembly sessions and political party activity, the attempt to seize the National Election Commission and attempts to locate certain legal personnel — violated the nation’s laws and or the Constitution.
 
“As the respondent’s transgression of the Constitution and law is a direct betrayal of the people’s trust, this constitutes a grave violation of law that is not permissible from the standpoint of protecting the Constitution,” the court found in its monumental decision. 
 
As an economic and cultural powerhouse that sped through the processes of industrialization and democratization, South Korea should feel ashamed that it ever had a president like Yoon — a leader who was undemocratic, brutish and backward. His entire presidency saw the country regress in various ways. A novice to politics, the newly inaugurated Yoon treated national governance the way that he would a prosecutor’s office.
 
His critics in civil society, the National Assembly, the opposition party and the media, were not forces he could engage in dialogue and compromise with, but forces that needed to be shut out and punished. While he may have advertised himself as the poster child of “fairness” and “common sense,” his term was ripe with injustice and absurdity. Yoon’s Dec. 3 invocation of martial law, fueled by preposterous and delusional cries of fighting “anti-state forces” and exposing supposedly rigged elections, is a stellar example of how much society regressed during that time.
 
Seeing two presidents removed from office in the space of eight years, as President Park Geun-hye was ousted in 2017, is nothing short of a national tragedy. But, at the same time, managing to oust two presidents from office is also a source of pride and hope for our country as it shows that the common sense of the people and a strong longing for constitutional order will always win out. 

The power to put to bed such reactionary spasms comes from the sovereign Korean people. Despite how desperately Yoon, his party, and the far-right forces they are aligned with attempted to besmirch South Korea with sophistry and incitement, the people stalwartly rallied together to protect the Constitution. Each time South Korean democracy has been plunged into crisis, it has always been the Korean people themselves who have brought it back from the brink.

The ousting of Yoon, a leader who embodies dogmatism and madness, is not the end. It is the first step to getting the country back on track. The deep rifts and conflicts within our society must be attended to. The martial law declaration and the following impeachment of the president have deepened partisanship, leading many to diagnose the country as currently in the throes of a “psychological civil war.” The Constitutional Court’s ruling has also raised concerns regarding the outbreak of physical confrontations.
 
We all must remember the values of restraint and consideration. We cannot allow people to abuse feelings of hostility and hatred for political gain. Yoon has not expressed his acceptance of the court’s decision but merely apologized for “being unable to live up to expectations.” Yoon should give a sincere apology for causing national turmoil and ask his supporters to exercise restraint.

Reconstructing a reasonable conservative base is also imperative. The processes surrounding martial law and impeachment led to the sudden rise of the far right, driven by conspiracy theories and hate, which in turn drove the mainstream conservative party to the far right. If the People Power Party doesn’t distance itself from Yoon Suk-yeol and the far right and recenter itself, the entire conservative establishment will falter, which will hold back South Korean politics as a whole. 

Although we should pursue inclusion and unity, we need to conduct a thorough purge of the forces who aided, abetted, or were otherwise involved with the insurrection. Yoon, who has been charged with leading an insurrection, will mobilize all sorts of legal chicanery in his criminal trial. The judicial branch must punish the key culprits behind the insurrection without a shred of leniency to inscribe into the historical record the lessons of this incident. 

There also needs to be judicial judgments about allegations of Yoon and Kim Keon-hee's illegal election interference and influence-peddling and about Kim's suspected stock manipulation. 

Prosecutors, high-level bureaucrats, and other figures who supported insurrectionist actions also need to be held accountable. We cannot sanction the unconstitutional acts of Prime Minister and acting President Han Duck-soo, who has disrupted the proper function of the Constitutional Court by refusing to appoint the three court justices selected by the National Assembly, and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok. The prosecution and the judicial system must also be reformed.
 
We also need to gather our strength to deal with various economic, trade and national security issues our country faces, such as the tariffs levied by the administration of US President Donald Trump.  

A snap presidential election will be held within 60 days, but we cannot neglect the vacuum in governance until then. Politicians and the executive branch need to take care of the public livelihood, as the citizens have been through the wringer these past four months. That alone is how they can make up for even a modicum of the damage they've done to the people. 

Yoon’s removal from office has opened the opportunity for political reform. Martial law was an abuse of power by an individual, but the people’s doubts about the monarchical authority of the president have only grown. Throughout the snap election cycle, there’s going to be a flood of talk about various avenues for constitutional reform. June’s snap election must serve as a forum for political reform, purging the insurrection faction, and envisioning and planning for Korea’s future. 

It may have taken longer than hoped, but spring has finally arrived. After attending to our wounds, we need to look toward tomorrow.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]