It took South Koreans 12 nights of protests in the bitter cold to achieve their goal and bring President Yoon Suk Yeol’s political career one step closer to the end.

The National Assembly voted in favor of it on Saturday to request the impeachment of the President.

However, there is still a long way to go before impeachment.

The Constitutional Court has up to six months to decide whether to impeach him. Meanwhile, Yoon’s powers were handed over to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who is now acting president.

The attempt from last Saturday It failed to get enough votes for impeachment. The ruling party boycotted the vote.

This time the opposition gathered just enough votes to get through. But it was close. They needed 200 votes. They received 204.

Therefore, Yoon’s ruling party, the People Power Party (PPP), still voted overwhelmingly against impeachment, even though many of its politicians condemned the attempt to impose martial law.

The PPP made a calculated decision to resist impeachment and avoid another election that it would surely lose.

That won’t do them any favors South Korean public. President Yoon’s popularity has fallen from very bad to worse. It is around 11%.

There is now a path to the next phase of the country’s political crisis, and it lies through the courts.

Meanwhile, an interim government will try to stabilize South Korea’s deeply shaken political foundations.

But the damage was severe.

The memory of troops on the streets, helicopters in the sky and politicians defying special forces soldiers is now deeply etched in the memories of people, young and old.

Having pulled their democracy back from the abyss, South Koreans are holding on to it and strengthening it with demonstrations, celebrations and a society-wide movement.

How long they can keep this up while the country descends into chaos is unclear.