The Constitutional Court unanimously upheld the motion to impeach now-former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, saying Yoon violated the Constitution by mobilizing troops against the legislature and infringing on basic civil rights.

Moon Hyung-bae, the court’s acting president, said upon delivering the ruling that Yoon’s actions amounted to a grave betrayal of the public’s trust and a serious breach of the constitutional order that could not be tolerated.

Moon added that Yoon declared martial law on December 3 in the absence of a genuine national emergency and revived the painful legacy of past abuses of emergency power.

The ruling also said Yoon plunged the country into chaos, socially, economically, politically and diplomatically, by bypassing legal procedures and misusing his authority. 

The justices found that all five grounds cited by lawmakers for his impeachment were valid and sufficient to justify his removal from office.

There were no dissenting opinions among the eight sitting justices, though some offered additional views on specific legal points.

Yoon, a former prosecutor elected by a razor-thin margin in 2022, spent much of his presidency trapped in a political gridlock with a powerful opposition-controlled legislature.

In the end, he claimed the opposition was orchestrating a national crisis to undermine the state.

He is also facing insurrection charges in a separate criminal trial that began in February.