North Korean state propaganda outlets rapidly disseminated information inside the country about the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol this weekend, announcing to their captive audiences this weekend the details of the legislative vote that marks the first step toward Yoon’s ouster.

Yoon, a conservative, abruptly attempted to impose martial law on South Korea on December 3, alarming citizens as there did not appear to be any imminent military threat necessitating such a dramatic move. Yoon claimed that he needed to impose military rule to “protect the Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces” but cited only conflict on lawmaking with the opposition Democratic Party in the National Assembly as evidence that “communist forces” had infiltrated the government.

The martial law decree lasted only about six hours before the National Assembly stormed the legislative floor and voted unanimously to stop in at around 1: 00 a.m. on December 4. The vote was an extremely dramatic affair in which Yoon had deployed the military to prevent the National Assembly from convening, as political activity is illegal under martial law. The soldiers did little to stop the assemblymen as they elbowed through their ranks to vote down military rule, however, and reports later suggested soldiers hesitated to follow Yoon’s orders out of concern that he may not have had the legal authority to issue them.

In the aftermath of the martial law decree, the Democratic Party moved to impeach Yoon, failing once a week ago and successfully ousting Yoon on Saturday. The impeachment motion suspends all of Yoon’s powers and sends the issue to the Constitutional Court, which will ultimately decide to oust or reinstate Yoon.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the flagship propaganda outlet of the North Korean regime, reported on the impeachment on Monday, printing a dry report detailing the votes in the National Assembly and the process that follows to either confirm the impeachment or restore Yoon to power. It appeared to blame an address to the public Yoon issued on Thursday in which he appeared to defend the martial law decision, insisting that the National Assembly was as “monster that destroys the constitutional order of liberal democracy” and claimed North Korea had infiltrated the leftist Democrats.

“The opposition parties are currently dancing a frenzied sword dance, saying that the declaration of emergency martial law was a crime of insurrection, but is that really so?” Yoon proclaimed at the time. “Who are the forces currently paralyzing the government and disrupting the constitution of Korea?”

“The puppet Yoon Suk Yeol, upset by this, released a press statement spliced with lies and obstinacy on Dec. 12,” KCNA relayed, “but it sparked off stronger rebuff and resentment of the political and public circles as the puppet shifted the responsibility for foolish emergency martial law declaration onto the opposition parties.”

“The puppet Constitutional Court will finally decide the impeachment,” KCNA added.

KCNA and its auxiliary media units are the only legal form of news disseminated in North Korea, meaning that everything North Koreans know about their neighbors to the south is carefully curated by the communist regime. Offering a peek into how South Korea, a free society, operates on the theory of separation of powers how citizens can mobilize against a head of state should they chose is a potentially risky endeavor for Pyongyang, as it may inspire North Koreans to demand a freer regime.

The National Assembly requires a two-thirds majority to impeach a president, which in this case meant that eight members of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) would have to vote in favor of removing their president. The first attempt to impeach Yoon in response to the martial law situation occurred on December 7 and failed because the National Assembly failed to make quorum – PPP members simply did not show up, making the vote impossible. On Saturday, not only did they attend the session, 12 members of the PPP voted to impeach Yoon. The vote is anonymous, so who voted in favor is unknown.

Yoon’s fate is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which has scheduled its first conference to discuss the constitutionality of the impeachment for December 27. The court has 180 days to decide on whether to oust Yoon or not. Six Constitutional Court judges must agree, a unanimous ruling, to confirm the impeachment.

Yoon spoke to the public in a statement on Saturday, insisting that he would “never give up” in his political fight despite the odds against him.

“I may be stopping for a moment now, but the journey toward the future that I have walked along with the people for the past two and a half years should never stop,” Yoon said, according to a translation by Korea JoongAng Daily. “I will never give up. I will carry with me all the criticisms, encouragement and support directed toward me, and I will continue to do my utmost for the country until the very last moment.”

He went on to call his political career “arduous yet happy” and called for conservatives and the general public to unite around Acting President Han Duck-soo, the former prime minister.

The leftist Democrats, whose alleged intransigence Yoon blamed for choosing to impose military rule, are already threatening to impeach Han. Multiple members of the Assembly have claimed that an acting president should, for the good of the country, not veto any bills passed by the Democrat-majority National Assembly, and that doing so would be an impeachable offense, a matter of debate for constitutional law. The head of the Democrats, lawmaker and former presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, declined to support those voices however, expressing concern that “too many impeachments could lead to confusion in state affairs.”

FLASHBACK — LIVE: President Biden hosting joint press conference with President Yoon of South Korea

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