By The Straits Times | Created at 2025-04-04 16:20:57 | Updated at 2025-04-05 01:17:36
10 hours ago
SEOUL – Having held their breath for the past few weeks as the Constitutional Court deliberated over the fate of President Yoon Suk Yeol, many South Koreans let out a collective sigh of relief when the impeachment verdict was announced on April 4.
To many South Koreans, the man they had elected as president in 2022 had betrayed their trust with his sudden declaration of martial law on Dec 3, 2024, sending the country into a tailspin and opening up past wounds of the country’s years under harsh martial rule in the 1980s.
To Yoon’s supporters, however, he had his reasons, with his minority government “paralysed” by the opposition.
The eight judges of the Constitutional Court voted unanimously to remove Yoon from office, ruling that his self-declared coup was a violation of the country’s Constitution.
Most South Koreans whom The Straits Times spoke to said that they took comfort in the ruling and could not wait to move on.
Madam Kim Young-suk recalled that her heart was pounding as she watched the live broadcast of the verdict announcement.
When the court read out Yoon’s ouster, the 53-year-old office assistant squealed out loud: “The moment that South Korea is reborn!”
She told ST: “Yoon is a hypocritical figure who shouts about upholding liberal democracy when he is the one not abiding by democracy himself.
“I thought it was certain that he should be impeached, but because his lawyers kept finding loopholes and using legal tactics to delay court proceedings, I became anxious. But today is a joyful day!”
A medical industry professional who wanted to be known only as Mr Chae had been worried about the situation, but now sees it as a chance for South Korea to shake the dust off its feet and move on.
“Our country’s foundation as a democracy should be a given. We need new leaders who can organise the country well and conduct politics properly, not by abusing powers,” he said.
Former trade minister Yeo Han-koo, who served in the administration of Yoon’s predecessor, Mr Moon Jae-in, from August 2021 to May 2022, called it South Korea’s “Liberation Day”.
He said: “Many South Korean people have been really frustrated by the chaos and turmoil that Yoon had caused in the past four months, which also left the country very much polarised. So this hopefully puts an end to it and restores democracy to our country.”
Lawyer Choi Ji-yeon, a supporter of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) who had helped in Yoon’s election campaign in 2021, said that while she knew what the verdict was going to be, she could not help but hope for the best after hearing rumours of a split in opinion among the judges.
Her voice breaking, Ms Choi said: “It reminded me of (former president) Park Geun-hye’s impeachment in 2017. It was very traumatising for us conservatives, and now we cannot believe it has just happened for the second time!”
Yonsei University’s Dr Bong Young-shik called it a relief that the Constitutional Court ruling was a unanimous one, which “leaves no room for doubt or political manipulation”.
A survey by Gallup Korea released on April 4 showed that 57 per cent of South Koreans supported the removal of Yoon, while 37 per cent disagreed with it.
In an earlier survey’s result released on March 28, more than half of the respondents also expressed a preference for a change in government, favouring the liberal Democratic Party over Yoon’s People Power Party.
The Democratic Party currently holds 170 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly.
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who had lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election by a slim margin, is now widely tipped to win the next election, having topped opinion polls for consecutive months as the preferred candidate.
In a public announcement after the verdict, Mr Lee expressed his “deepest respect and gratitude” to the people who have protected the values of “our democratic republic”.
While Mr Lee himself is a controversial figure tainted with legal troubles, some analysts see the snap presidential election, which must be called within the next 60 days, as Mr Lee’s to lose.
South Korea’s Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is now widely tipped to win the next election.PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Dr Bong said he expects Yoon’s PPP to suffer a “brim-over” effect of Yoon’s impeachment as the party that “produced a failed president”, which then puts the Democratic Party in pole position for the election.
Kyonggi University’s professor of political science and law Hahm Sung-deuk warned, however, that Mr Lee would still need to manage the race well.
“He holds the majority in Parliament right now, and he will be even more dominant when he wins the presidential election. People will be afraid of his monopoly on power, so he needs to show that he is capable of democratic rule,” said Prof Hahm, adding that he expects a competitive election.
Regardless of who wins the election, the next president has his work cut out for him.
Kyung Hee University political scientist Ahn Byong-jin said that while there are security threats from North Korea and the US tariff wars to worry about, the nation needs to heal first and foremost.
“The next leader needs to be a unifier. Not based on his own ideology, but based on the principles of an inclusive democracy,” he added.
- Wendy Teo is The Straits Times’ South Korea correspondent based in Seoul. She covers issues concerning the two Koreas.
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