South Korea’s Constitutional Reform Push: What’s at Stake After Yoon’s Impeachment?
South Korea’s political landscape is undergoing a seismic shift following the Constitutional Court’s April 2025 ruling to oust former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his controversial martial law declaration. Now, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik is accelerating plans for a constitutional referendum—tied to the June 3 presidential election—to limit sweeping presidential powers that critics say enabled Yoon’s authoritarian overreach.
Why Constitutional Reform Matters Now
Yoon’s December 2024 martial law declaration—justified as a response to a fictional “national security crisis”—sparked nationwide protests, a Constitutional Court-imposed impeachment, and a crisis of trust in Korea’s presidency. The incident exposed long-standing concerns about the Korean Constitution’s 1987 framework, which grants presidents near-unchecked emergency powers under