The former colleagues of South Korea’s ousted leader, Yoon Suk Yeol, said the removed president, a brash ex-prosecutor who came to power by repeatedly defying setbacks and taking gambles, ultimately fell victim to political recklessness that led him to impose martial law.

DAILY POST reports that Yoon was removed from the presidency on Friday in the third year of his five-year term.

According to the Constitutional Court, which upheld his impeachment by parliament, Yoon violated his constitutional duty by briefly declaring martial law on December 3 with no justifiable grounds.

The 64-year-old Yoon still faces a criminal trial on charges of masterminding insurrection when he mobilised troops to try to shut down an opposition-led parliament that he accused of trying to destroy the country.

However, he denied wrongdoing, arguing in court that his six-hour attempt at martial law was to protect the country from anti-state forces.

According to a former colleague, Yoon used his legal career as a launchpad for elected office, winning the presidency in 2022.

“Yoon Suk Yeol was the most powerful prosecutor-general ever. He used the office to carry out his plan to become president and in doing so, his actions were daring,” a former judge, Han Dong-soo, who was head of internal inspection at the prosecutors’ office under Yoon said.

Yoon was said to have led high-profile investigations of the politically powerful, billed as a crusade against corruption that launched him into the public eye and generated the support that led to his victory in the presidential election.

Yoon’s presidency was overshadowed by scandals involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee, who was accused of inappropriately accepting a Christian Dior handbag as a gift.

South Korea: Ousted president Yoon loses reckless gamble with martial law – Former colleagues