South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol survives impeachment vote amid boycott, opposition vows to try again
South Korea’s main opposition party says it will try again within days to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after his declaration of martial law.
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South Korea’s main opposition party says it will try again to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after his declaration of martial law.
Meanwhile police arrested the defence minister in charge of the martial law operation, and the interior minister resigned. Both they and Yoon are being investigated for alleged insurrection.
Yoon averted impeachment late Saturday as huge crowds braved freezing temperatures in another night of protests outside parliament to demand the president’s ouster.
Opposition parties proposed the impeachment motion, which needed 200 votes in the 300-member parliament to pass, but a near-total boycott by Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) doomed it to failure.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), said that they would try again on December 14.
“Yoon, the principal culprit behind the insurrection and military coup that destroyed South Korea’s constitutional order, must either resign immediately or be impeached without delay,” Lee told reporters.
“On December 14, our Democratic Party will impeach Yoon in the name of the people.”
Members of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s party were heckled with chants of “go inside” and “cowards” courtesy of the opposition as they left the chamber and boycotted an opposition-led motion to impeach their leader over his brief declaration of martial law.
The impeachment failed Saturday as it did not meet the required quorum after his party abstained from the vote.
“With a total of 195 votes, the number of members who voted did not reach the required two-thirds majority of the total members. Therefore, I declare that the vote on this matter is not valid,” National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik said.
The next time lawmakers can vote on Yoon’s impeachment is Wednesday, December 11.
South Korea’s embattled President earlier apologised but stopped short of resigning over his declaration of martial law, as nearly 150,000 protesters gathered outside parliament ahead of the crucial impeachment vote that could decide his political fate.
Yoon stunned the nation and the international community Tuesday night by imposing martial law for the first time in over four decades and deploying troops and helicopters to parliament.
But lawmakers managed to vote down the decree, forcing Yoon to rescind the order in the early hours of Wednesday in a night of extraordinary drama for a country assumed to be a stable democracy.
“The declaration of martial law arose from my desperation as president,” he said in a televised address, the first time he has appeared before the public since plunging the country into political chaos.
“I caused anxiety and inconvenience to the public. I sincerely apologise,” he said.
The opposition and key members of his own party have called for him to step down.
Hundreds of protesters began to gather outside the parliament building by lunchtime Saturday ahead of the vote, with organisers hoping they would attend to pile pressure on lawmakers.
Yoon did not offer to resign in his brief address, saying only that he would “entrust the party with measures to stabilise the political situation, including my term in office.” His People Power Party (PPP) is divided on the issue, with lawmakers late Friday sticking to the official line that they would block impeachment, even after party head Han Dong-hoon said Yoon must go or Seoul risked more political chaos.
“The normal performance of the president’s duties is impossible under the (current) circumstances, and an early resignation of the president is inevitable,” Han Dong-hoon told reporters Saturday.
The opposition bloc holds 192 seats in the 300-strong parliament, while Yoon’s PPP has 108.
Just eight ruling party lawmakers need to defect for the vote to get the two-thirds majority it needs to pass, after which Yoon would be suspended from duties pending a ruling by the Constitutional Court.
Police have also begun investigating Yoon and others for alleged insurrection. “I will not shy away from the issue of legal and political responsibility regarding the declaration of martial law,” Yoon said during his address.
Opposition leader Lee said Yoon’s speech was “very disappointing” given widespread public demands for him to step down.
His speech “only exacerbates the sense of betrayal and anger among the citizens”, he said, adding the only solution to the current political chaos was “the immediate resignation of the president or an early departure through impeachment”.
An opinion poll released Friday put backing for the 63-year-old president at a record low of 13 per cent.
President Yoon’s shock bid to suspend civilian rule for the first time in over four decades – before being overturned by politicians – plunged South Korea into deep turmoil.
The conservative politician and former star public prosecutor was elected president in 2022 and removing him from office will required a majority made up of two thirds of the votes in the country’s National Assembly, the sole house of parliament, which has 300 seats.
The opposition holds a large majority and only needs a handful of defections from the president’s party to secure the numbers needed to remove him from office.
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