Yoon Suk-yeol

A former prosecutor who declared martial law on December 3, 2024 — the first in South Korea in 44 years — only to see parliament overturn it within six hours. His subsequent impeachment and unanimous removal by the Constitutional Court was a dramatic test of South Korean democratic institutions that they ultimately passed.

Yoon Suk-yeol was born on December 18, 1960, in Seoul. A career prosecutor who served as Prosecutor General of South Korea, he ran for president with no prior elected office in 2022, winning the closest presidential race in South Korean history by 0.73%. His presidency was marked by conflict with the opposition-dominated National Assembly. His December 2024 martial law declaration — apparently motivated by budget disputes and political deadlock — lasted less than six hours before being reversed.