Yoon's step harmful to democracy, says top court

The Constitutional Court of South Korea has removed Yoon Suk Yeol as president ruling that the six-hour martial law that he had imposed on December was unconstitutional, and that through the martial law he had posed a “serious challenge to democracy”.

Acting Chief Justice Mon Hyung-bae said that Yoon “committed a grave betrayal of the people’s trust” and that the martial law decision has created chaos in all areas of society, the economy and foreign policy.

The court did not accept his argument that the declaration of martial law was meant to raise an alarm that the opposition party was abusing its parliamentary majority. The court said that there were other legal means to remedy the situation. Yoon’s supporters protested and came out on the streets, but they were peaceful. On the other hand, democracy supporters who were opposed to Yoon’s decision to martial law celebrated the court’s verdict. Yoon through his lawyers had said in a message, “I am so sorry and regretful that I wasn’t able to live up to your expectations.”

There is also the fact that Yoon lifted the martial law within six hours but those six hours pushed the country into the dark area of authoritarianism. And he was forced to lift the martial law because the opposition and the ruling party legislators met in parliament in defiance and broke the military barricade by climbing over the walls and getting into parliament to undo the president’s decision.

It is clear that Yoon could not have used his decision to withdraw the martial law as an extenuating factor. If the legislators had not met, he would have continued to go ahead with the draconian measures implied in the martial law, which included arresting opposition leaders, dissolving parliament. The surprising fact is that Yoon’s own party, People Power Party, had refused to support the martial law decision.

The Constitutional Court’s verdict has not created any political mayhem despite the fact Yoon has still his supporters. It is to be recalled that Yoon is a conservative politician and hardliner in his approach towards North Korea. The opposition Liberal Party has been looking to mend fences with the estranged north because North Korea poses a constant military threat to South Korea, and it comes in the way of South Korea exerting its economic power and influence much more effectively.

South Korea now faces fresh presidential elections, which is expected to be held in June. The opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party who had lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election by a narrow margin, remains the main contender.

Kwon Young-se, interim leader of the People Power Party, had said that he would work with Acting President Han to stabilise the country. It is an indication that Yoon’s party has distanced itself from Yoon. Acting President Han has said that the presidential election would be held in an orderly manner.

South Korea had not had a smooth democratic run. It had spells of dictatorship. The last dictatorial episode in South Korea was in the 1980s. But the people have developed a deep commitment to democracy, and the political parties too remain loyal to the democratic system.

The Constitutional Court had only ruled the constitutional aspect of Yoon’s martial law decision, and it has disqualified him from continuing as president.

But there is a separate criminal trial awaiting Yoon. The criminal trial will consider the other aspect of Yoon’s martial law. It is about sedition, that Yoon’s act of imposing martial law was an act of sedition. If convicted Yoon could either put to death or given life imprisonment.