South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a second impeachment vote on Saturday after declaring a short-term martial law last week.
He is far from the first South Korean president to see his rule mired in bitterness and scandal.
Here’s a look at the downfalls of past South Korean leaders.
2016: Park impeached, sent to jail
In December 2016, Park Geun-hye, president since 2013, was impeached by Parliament in a decision confirmed by the Constitutional Court in March 2017, which led to her indictment and prison sentence.
The daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee, she was the first female president of South Korea and presented herself as indestructible.
But he was accused of receiving or requesting millions of dollars from several companies, including Samsung.
Additional allegations included sharing classified documents, “blacklisting” artists who criticized his policies, and firing officials who opposed him.
Park was sentenced in 2021 to 20 years in prison and a heavy fine.
But later that year, his successor Moon Jae-in pardoned him.
Yoon, the current president, was a Seoul prosecutor at the time and played a key role in his dismissal and subsequent imprisonment.
Lee Myung-bak: 15 years in prison
Park’s conservative predecessor Lee Myung-bak, in power from 2008 to 2013, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption in October 2018.
Most notably, he was found guilty of accepting bribes from Samsung in exchange for favors to Lee Kun-hee, then chairman of Samsung Group, who was convicted of tax evasion.
The former leader was pardoned by President Yoon in December 2022.
Roh Moo-hyun: suicide
President from 2003 to 2008 and a strong supporter of rapprochement with North Korea, liberal Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide by jumping off a cliff in May 2009.
He found himself in the crosshairs of an investigation into payments by a wealthy shoe manufacturer of one million dollars to his wife and five million dollars to the husband of one of his nieces.
1987: Autocrat Chun retired
Chun Doo-hwan, the military strongman known as the “Butcher of Gwangju” for ordering his troops to rebel against his rule in the southwestern city, agrees to step down in the wake of mass demonstrations in 1987 Happened.
He handed over power to his disciple Roh Tae-woo.
Roh and Chun were close for decades, having first met as classmates at the military academy during the Korean War.
In 1996, both men were convicted of treason for the 1979 coup that brought Chun to power, the 1980 Gwangju rebellion, corruption and other crimes.
Roh was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison, which was reduced to 17 years, while Chun was sentenced to death, which was commuted to life imprisonment.
He was later pardoned in 1998 after spending only two years behind bars.
1979: Dictator Park assassination
Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his own spy chief during a private dinner in October 1979.
The events of that night have long been the subject of heated debate in South Korea, particularly over whether the assassination was premeditated.
Then-army generals Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo took advantage of the political confusion to stage a coup in December 1979.
1961: Yun is overthrown in a coup
President Yun Po-sun was overthrown in a coup led by army officer Park Chung-hee in 1961.
Park kept Yun in office but effectively took control of the government, then replaced him after winning elections in 1963.
1960: Exile of the first president
South Korea’s first president, Syngman Rhee, elected in 1948, was forced to resign in 1960 due to a popular student-led rebellion after attempting to extend his tenure through rigged elections.
Rea was forced into exile in Hawaii, where he died in 1965.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
