section_path: Popular reactions
section_name: Popular reactions
paragraph_text: Popular reactions
  
  While the session for the first impeachment motion was underway, the crowd outside the National Assembly demanding Yoon's removal and insisting that PPP lawmakers participate in the impeachment vote was estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands, with some attempting to scale the walls and police barricades. On 5 December, phone numbers of PPP lawmakers were released online, leading to a wave of text messages from the public urging them to support Yoon's impeachment, which continued after the impeachment motion failed. One MP, Shin Sung-bum, said that he had received 10,501 messages by 9 December. After the motion failed, several PPP lawmakers' offices were vandalized, while others received funeral wreaths with messages such as "insurrection accomplices" written. A box cutter was also found at the residence of lawmaker Kim Jae-sub. A petition filed at the National Assembly website calling for the PPP's dissolution garnered more than 171,000 signatures, exceeding the 50,000 needed to have the proposal submitted to the relevant standing committee.
  
  During the session for the second impeachment motion, at least 208,000 people gathered near the National Assembly in support of impeachment. Demonstrations in support of Yoon's impeachment were also held in cities nationwide, with 10,000 attending rallies in Jeonju and 30,000 others participating in Daegu. At the same time, a mass rally of around 40,000 people in support of Yoon was held at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. Trains running on Line 9 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway avoided stopping at the National Assembly station to prevent congestion-related accidents. On 13 December, some 50 Korean Americans demonstrated outside the White House in Washington, D.C. calling for Yoon's impeachment.
  
  Yoon's supporters rallied around slogans such as Make America Great Again and Stop the Steal inspired by U.S. President Trump. However, this is rooted in a conspiracy theory about the defeat of the PPP in the April 2024 general election. Yoon’s claim has not been proven by the National Election Commission (NEC) or the judiciary. South Korea votes on paper, and the printed ballots are kept. Hans Schattle, a professor of political science at Yonsei University, said that Yoon’s supporters’ comparisons with Donald Trump are inappropriate.
  
  In support of Yoon's impeachment, leading religious groups in South Korea marched with their heads, arms, and legs on the ground.
  
  After Yoon's impeachment was upheld by the Constitutional Court, celebrations broke out among impeachment supporters camped outside the court, while Yoon supporters outside the presidential office reacted negatively to the verdict. One supporter was arrested on charges of breaking the window of a police bus using a club at Anguk Station near the court in anger over the verdict. Others were heard making death threats against Constitutional Court justices.
  
  Human Rights Watch supported the outcome.