South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday unanimously upheld President Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment, removing him from office and triggering a snap presidential election within 60 days. South Korea will elect a new government by early June. All eight justices ruled in favor of the National Assembly’s motion, decisively rejecting Yoon’s defense that his martial law declaration was a symbolic act rather than an abuse of executive power.

The court ruled that Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration, which suspended political activities and ordered military intervention in political affairs and the press, violated constitutional principles. In the ruling, the court stated, “The invocation of martial law must strictly adhere to constitutional and legal requirements, and cannot be justified by vague or symbolic intentions.” The ruling emphasized that Yoon’s justification of martial law as a “communication tool” was fundamentally flawed and inconsistent with the legal limitations of executive authority.