South Korean President Yoon has been impeached after a failed try and impose martial legislation

A screen shows footage of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering an address to the nation at Seoul Station on December 7, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea.

Chung Sung-jun | Getty Images News | Getty Images

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached in a vote on Saturday following his temporarily failed attempt to impose martial law in early December.

A presidential election must be held within 60 days if the incumbent is dismissed or resigns.

An earlier impeachment motion on Dec. 7 failed to receive the required majority of 200 out of 300 votes in South Korea's National Assembly after allied lawmakers in Yoon's People Power Party resigned before the show of hands. The tide has now turned: PPP leader Han Dong-hoon appeared to support a parliamentary vote on Yoon's impeachment on Thursday and called for an ethics commission to discuss his departure from the party, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The motion was initiated by opposition lawmakers after Yoon briefly declared martial law on December 3 for the first time since the 1979 military coup, citing the need to “protect the constitutional order based on freedom and root out shameful pro-North Korean anti-states.” . Groups that steal the freedom and happiness of our people,” NBC News reporting said. The measure, which was repealed within six hours, raised questions about the possibility that Yoon might try to impose martial law nationwide a second time.

The president has faced a series of scandals since taking office for a single term in 2022 – many involving his wife, businesswoman Kim Keon Hee. His approval rating fell to 17.3% in the days since the Dec. 3 incident, as Yoon initially said he was putting his fate in his party's hands, but steadfastly resisted mounting calls for his resignation from opposition lawmakers and peaceful protesters. He was banned from leaving the country.

Yoon is not the first South Korean president since the turn of the century to face an impeachment vote. Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye were deposed as a result of such proceedings in 2004 and 2016, respectively.

According to a report by NBC News, Yoon gave a long, defiant national address on Thursday in which he promised to “fight to the end” and “stand firm.”

“The opposition parties are currently in turmoil, claiming that declaring martial law would be tantamount to an insurrection,” Yoon said. “Is what they claim true?”

The political unrest initially rattled markets and raised concerns about the democratic stability of Asia's fourth-largest economy – but John Woods, chief investment officer at Lombard Odier, said South Korean observers were now “looking past this crisis” and focusing back on local profits concentrate.

“Certainly there is an endgame, I think, in sight, and there's no doubt that it will come to an end in the first quarter or so of next year,” Woods told CNBC's Tanvir Gill on Thursday. “This volatility in the political context is something we have to take very seriously. But certainly the general value of it is.” [South] Korea as a proxy AI is also something we cannot overlook.”

Technology, chips and the booming AI industry play a central role in South Korea's economy, which the International Monetary Fund forecasts will grow 2.5% this year.