South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol escaped impeachment yesterday over his brief declaration of martial law, after lawmakers from his ruling party boycotted a vote, despite huge protests outside parliament.
Yoon stunned the nation and the international community on Tuesday night by suspending civilian rule and sending troops to the National Assembly, but was forced into a U-turn after lawmakers nixed his decree.
Opposition parties proposed the impeachment motion, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass, but a near-total boycott by Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) doomed it to failure.
Photo: AFP
“The number of members who voted did not reach the required two-thirds majority,” National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said, adding that as a result, the impeachment vote was “not valid.”
The country — and the world — was watching and it was “very regrettable that a vote could not even be held on such a significant national issue,” he added.
He said it signified “a failure to engage in the democratic process” on the part of the ruling party.
The PPP after the vote said that it blocked the impeachment to avoid “severe division and chaos,” adding that it would “resolve this crisis in a more orderly and responsible manner.”
The outcome disappointed the huge crowds — which police said numbered 150,000, while organizers said numbered 1 million — demonstrating outside parliament for Yoon’s ouster.
The opposition has already vowed to try again as soon as Wednesday, and many protesters vowed to continue demonstrations next weekend.
“I will impeach Yoon Suk-yeol, who has become the worst risk for South Korea, at any cost,” opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said.
Before the vote, Yoon, 63, apologized for the turmoil, but said he would leave it to his party to decide his fate.
“I caused anxiety and inconvenience to the public. I sincerely apologies,” he said in a televised address, his first public appearance in three days.
He said he would “entrust the party with measures to stabilize the political situation, including my term in office.”
The backing of PPP lawmakers came despite party head Han Dong-hoon — who was allegedly on an arrest list on Tuesday night — saying Yoon must go.
Only three PPP lawmakers — Ahn Cheol-soo, Kim Yea-ji and Kim Sang-wook — voted in the end.
The failure of the impeachment motion “means a more protracted political crisis,” said Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean Studies at the University of Oslo.
“We will have a politically dead president — basically unable to govern any longer — and hundreds of thousands coming to the streets every week until Yoon is removed,” he added.
Had the motion passed, Yoon would have been suspended from duties pending a ruling by the South Korean Constitutional Court.
An opinion poll released on Friday put backing for Yoon at a record low of 13 percent.
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