The exit of the ruling party deprived the opposition of the votes needed to overthrow the president.
A motion to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol failed as Parliament Speaker Woo Won-shik closed the hours-long session after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote.
Almost all 108 members of Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) walked out of the chamber before voting on Saturday, sparking anger from opposition MPs, some of whom accused them of “collusion”.
This came hours after the embattled leader apologized for his short-lived attempts to impose martial law earlier this week.
Previously, a bill to investigate First Lady Kim Keon Hee, who appears to be the instigator of Yoon’s decision to impose martial law, was to be voted on, but failed. PPP MPs walked out after that vote.
‘Withdrawal’
A motion to oust opposition parties requires a two-thirds majority. Opposition parties control 192 of the legislature’s 300 seats, meaning they needed at least eight more votes than Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP).
“So far this vote appears to be derailing the impeachment process,” Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride said earlier Saturday from Seoul, adding that only one member of the ruling party remained in the Chamber during the vote.
Speaker Woo stopped short of calling the result, urging PPP lawmakers to return “to protect the Republic of Korea and its democracy”.
PPP chairman Han Dong-hun had called for Yoon’s removal from office on Friday, but the party remained officially opposed to impeachment.
Han said he found intelligence that during the short term of martial law, Yoon ordered the country’s defense chief to arrest and detain unnamed key politicians for alleged “anti-state activities.”
After Yoon’s televised apology on Saturday, in which he said the decision was born out of “desperation”, Han again insisted that he step down.
“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s early resignation is inevitable,” Han told reporters, adding that he was in no condition to perform official duties.
Slide into authoritarianism
The vote came as tens of thousands of people filled the streets near the National Assembly, waving banners, shouting slogans, dancing and singing along to K-pop songs with altered lyrics to call for Yoon’s ouster.
A small crowd of Yoon’s supporters, which appeared to be in the thousands, gathered on various streets in Seoul, denouncing the impeachment attempt as unconstitutional.
Opposition lawmakers accuse Yoon of a slide toward authoritarian rule.
The president shocked the nation on Tuesday night when he declared martial law, giving the military emergency powers to fight unspecified threats from “North Korean communist forces” and to “eliminate the shameless anti-North forces”.
Some time after midnight, the soldiers tried to enter the main parliament, and a fight broke out as workers and lawmakers blocked their way with office furniture as barriers.
Early Wednesday, lawmakers voted 190-0 to overturn Yoon’s announcement and protesters took to the streets before Yoon said he would lift martial law.
Six opposition parties later filed a motion to impeach Yoon. Opposition lawyers have also filed various complaints of “treason” against the president, his defense and interior ministers and key military and police officials.
Source link
