On Saturday, South Korea’s National Assembly, the country’s unicameral legislature, voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.

His fate will now be decided by the Constitutional Court. If the court votes to remove Yoon — likely, since his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law has been roundly condemned throughout South Korean society — the country will head to the polls to select the 14th president of the Republic of Korea.

In the meantime, domestic turmoil continues. The impeachment is by no means the end of the crisis, as Leif-Eric Easley of Seoul’s Ewha University said. “It is not even the beginning of the end, which will ultimately involve election of a new president,” he said.

Even if Yoon survives the crisis, the episode is undoubtedly the end of his most important, bravest, and most unpopular accomplishment. Yoon was instrumental in building a security partnership with Japan.

The South Korean leader traveled to Camp David in August of last year to meet President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. There, the three leaders issued “The Spirit of Camp David,” a joint statement to “inaugurate a new era of trilateral partnership.”

“This is a moment that requires unity and coordinated action from true partners, and it is a moment we intend to meet, together,” the statement reads. “Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States are determined........

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