South Korea imposed a travel ban on President Yun Suk-yeol on Monday. The head of South Korea's corruption probe said the ban was imposed on the president due to the imposition of martial law. According to Reuters, South Korean police were considering a travel ban to investigate rebellion charges against them since martial law was imposed last week.
Last Tuesday, Yoon Suk-yeol imposed martial law in the country after accusing the opposition party of colluding with North Korea and engaging in anti-national activities. After this the country faced serious political unrest. The opposition brought an impeachment motion against him, which could not be passed.
A majority of ruling party MPs boycotted the vote on the impeachment motion, leaving the opposition unable to muster the 200 votes needed to pass it.
However, a new session of parliament is starting in South Korea from Wednesday. In such a situation, the opposition is once again thinking of bringing an impeachment motion.
Elections must be held within 60 days after the President leaves office If the opposition succeeds in passing an impeachment motion against the president on Wednesday, a case against Yun will be filed in court. Where the proposal will be proved by the vote of 6 out of 9 judges. Currently, South Korean courts only have 6 judges, so it is unclear whether the case will proceed without 7 judges.
If Yun steps down before the end of his five-year term in May 2027, the constitution requires presidential elections to be held within 60 days.
Why did the President need to impose martial law? The South Korean Parliament has a total of 300 seats. In the elections held earlier this year, the people gave a massive mandate to the opposition party DPK. The ruling People Power got only 108 seats, while the opposition party DPK got 170 seats. Being in the majority, the opposition DPK was interfering more in the functioning of the President's government and could not work according to their agenda.
President Yol won the election in 2022 by a slim margin. After this his popularity began to decline. His image was also affected as his wife was embroiled in several controversies. The president currently has a popularity rating of about 17%, the lowest of all presidents in the country. To counter all this the President imposed martial law.
A case was registered against 9 people including the President and the Defense Minister The main opposition Democratic Party has called Yun's imposition of martial law unconstitutional, an illegal coup or coup d'état. A police complaint has been filed against President Yun and nine people including the former Defense Minister.
Before voting on the impeachment motion on Saturday, President Yoon Suk-yeol apologized to the country for imposing martial law. He bowed his head on live TV and in front of the public he called the imposition of martial law wrong. However, he did not announce his resignation.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
