Yoon’s bid to suspend civilian rule and claims of a communist conspiracy harkened back to the dark days of dictatorship in South Korea four decades ago, when human rights abuses by military and security forces were widespread.
Lawmakers rapidly launched impeachment proceedings against Yoon for his alleged “insurrection” and attempt to override the country’s democratic constitution.
The vote sparked wild jubilation on the streets of Seoul -- opinion polls suggested more than 75 percent of the public supported impeachment.
“For the people this has been a transforming experience in building a more powerful democratic consciousness among them.”
Bordering isolated, totalitarian North Korea and separated by a strip of sea from vast and authoritarian China, South Korea has for years been a posterchild for boisterous, democratic rule in East Asia.
And its strong rebuke of authoritarian rule this week again saw it buck a global trend towards autocratic politics, from the re-election this year of Donald Trump in the United States to a surge in right-wing populism in Europe.
But for many South Koreans, there was never any doubt that the country would turn back the clock.
“There is a red line drawn in the minds of the Korean people: that the country should never regress back to military rule,“ Bae told AFP.
Reform needed
Fellow conservative Park Geun-hye -- who Yoon, as chief prosecutor, played a key role in removing -- was also impeached under very similar circumstances.
“For this popular will to translate into better government will require a wholesale review of the constitution and the system,“ she said.
Reforms could see the country “weaken the so-called ‘imperial presidency’ by getting rid of many of the president’s powers and investing them in the legislature”, he suggested.
He doubled down Thursday on allegations that “anti-state” forces were seeking to undermine South Korea’s national security and electoral system.
“When the president said those things, it convinced lawmakers that he needed to be impeached.”
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