SEOUL >> Eleven days ago, President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea made a bold power grab, putting the country under military rule for the first time in 45 years, citing frustration at the opposition for obstructing his agenda in parliament.

His martial law decree lasted only hours, and now he finds himself locked out of power: impeached and suspended by the National Assembly after a vote Saturday in which a dozen members of his own party turned against him.

Lawmakers sought to draw a line under Yoon’s tenure after his declaration threw the country’s democracy into chaos and drew public outrage across the country.

Street protests turned to celebrations outside the assembly when news broke that the impeachment bill had passed. Yoon’s popularity has plummeted during his 2 1/2 years in office, a term marked by deepening political polarization, scandals involving his wife and a near-constant clash between his government and the opposition-dominated parliament.

But the political turmoil and uncertainty unleashed by his short-lived declaration of martial law are far from over. Speaking soon after the vote, Yoon vowed to fight in court to regain his power, even as police and prosecutors closed in on him with a possible criminal charge of insurrection.

The fate of Yoon, a deeply unpopular leader, now rests in the hands of the country’s Constitutional Court, which will decide — within the next six months — whether to reinstate or formally remove him. If he is formally removed, South Korea is then supposed to elect a new leader within two months.

During his suspension from office, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the No. 2 official in the government hierarchy, has stepped in as interim leader. “My heart is very heavy,” said Han, a career bureaucrat. “In this heavy time, I will focus all my strength and effort to stably run the affairs of the state.”

Because Han is not an elected official, he will lead South Korea with no real political heft at a time when the country faces challenges at home and abroad, such as North Korea’s growing nuclear threat and the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

The State Department said in a statement that the United States supported South Korea’s democratic processes and was ready to work with Han to advance the U.S. alliance with Seoul.

For now, Yoon’s impeachment was a huge relief for crowds of protesters who have been gathering near the assembly in recent days to call for his ouster. Hours before the assembly was set to vote, thousands of people began converging on parliament, carrying signs that said, “Impeach Yoon Suk Yeol, the Ringleader of Insurrection!”

After the vote, as the news reached them that Yoon was impeached in a vote with 204 in favor and 85 against, they jumped up and down and hugged one another.

“This is the happiest moment in my life,” said Kim Myoung-sook, 60. “Martial law is a declaration of war on the people, and I was so depressed over the past week.”

Opposition groups were triumphant but cautious. Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, called the impeachment “a victory for the South Korean people and democracy.”

However, the mission to oust Yoon is not over, said Lee Jae-myung, the main opposition leader. “We’ve just overcome a small mountain,” he told a rally of supporters outside the assembly. “There is a larger, steeper mountain ahead.”

Yoon signaled he had no intention of going quietly. In a recorded speech released shortly after his impeachment, he addressed the nation and listed what he considers his accomplishments as president, including his efforts to align the country more closely with the United States and Japan in military ties. Now his efforts were paused, he said.

“But I will never give up,” he said, repeating his intention to fight it in the Constitutional Court.

The assembly had impeached only two South Korean presidents before. In 2017, the Constitutional Court decided unanimously to subsequently remove Park Geun-hye from office. But in 2004, the court overruled the assembly and overturned the impeachment of then-President Roh Moo-hyun.

The impeachment of Yoon was the most dramatic twist in his turbulent term that began in 2022, when he narrowly won an election on a conservative, business-friendly platform. His tenure has been marked by near-constant protests and political deadlock.

​Much of his political trouble involved his wife, Kim Keon Hee, who has been accused by Yoon’s critics and the local news media of accepting improper gifts, including a Dior handbag, and illegally meddling in government affairs, such as personnel decisions.

In the impeachment bill, opposition lawmakers argued that Yoon had perpetrated an insurrection when he declared martial law on the night of Dec. 3 and sent military troops into the assembly. They said that was an attempt to stop parliament from voting down his martial law decree, as it was allowed to do under the constitution.

His attempt to rule by martial law lasted only six hours, as angry citizens and parliamentary aides slowed down the advance of troops, buying time for lawmakers to gather and vote. But the episode reminded South Koreans of how close their country had come to the brink of martial law, recalling its painful history of military dictatorship decades ago.

In the past week, public pressure had been mounting on the governing party. Yoon’s popularity rating plunged to 11%, a record low, according to a Gallup Korea poll released Friday.

Opposition lawmakers needed eight supporting votes from Yoon’s party to impeach him. When they called an impeachment vote last weekend, Yoon’s People Power Party boycotted it, saying that he should be given a chance to resign rather than be impeached. Only three of its 108 lawmakers participated.

On Saturday, the party said that it officially opposed impeachment, but its lawmakers were allowed to cast their secret ballots. The result indicated that 12 lawmakers from Yoon’s party had joined the opposition to impeach him and an additional 11 abstained or cast invalid votes, sealing his fate.

“The impeachment proceedings highlight how checks and balances are essential in stopping abuses of power and supporting the rule of law,” said Simon Henderson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

Yoon has maintained that his martial law decree was part of the presidential power granted by the constitution. But he faces the possibility of becoming the first president to be arrested before his term ends. Prosecutors have barred him from leaving the country and have arrested his former defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, and two former police chiefs on charges of helping carry out insurrection.

Under South Korean law, insurrection is a crime punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone found by the court to be a ringleader.

But Yoon’s impeachment “is not the end of South Korea’s political turmoil,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. “It is not even the beginning of the end.”

The impeachment concluded only “an executive-legislative standoff over an attempt at martial law,” he said. “Next is Yoon’s defense in front of the Constitutional Court and likely prosecution for insurrection.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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