The South Korean Parliament rejected the opposition’s impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol after the chaos of martial law declared on Tuesday evening and withdrawn a few hours later due to parliamentary rejection. Yonhap reports this, specifying that the quorum of 200 votes was not reached.
Yoon, who was on the brink this morning, was saved thanks to the twist implemented by the People Power Party, the ruling party decided to boycott the vote, reducing the risk of dissidence among its 108 deputies to a minimum .
Speaker Woo Won-shik intervened several times, calling for “responsibility” and the exercise of the right to vote “out of respect for the assembly and the Republic of Korea. I’m not saying to vote yes or no, I’m just saying to vote”.
The People Power Party gathered its deputies to avoid their return to the chamber. Only three disobeyed and decided to vote. Therefore, considering the 192 votes held by the opposition and the three dissidents, the margins for approval of the impeachment motion immediately appeared very limited, with 195 votes in favour, compared to the quorum set at 200. Speaker Woo stopped before announcing the result, once again appealing to the deputies of the People Power Party to return to casting their vote “to protect the Republic of Korea and its democracy”.
The South Korean parliament had also previously rejected the bill calling for the launch of a special prosecutor’s investigation into corruption allegations surrounding the first lady, Kim Keon Hee.
The measure, subjected to a new vote after Yoon exercised his veto right in November, narrowly missed the green light of the two-thirds majority of the chamber required to be approved: 198 votes in favor and 102 against out of a total of 300 of the classroom, based on the works broadcast in streaming. The vote was in fact a dress rehearsal for the consideration of the impeachment motion. Outside Parliament, meanwhile, around 150 thousand people took part in a demonstration against Yoon.
The leader of the ruling party resigns
Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the ruling People Power Party in South Korea, has announced his resignation after the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol failed in Parliament. This morning, after Yoon’s message to the nation, Han reiterated that “the normal performance of the president’s duties is impossible under the current circumstances, and his early resignation is inevitable.” His party, which is the same as Yoon’s, has left the chamber, wrecking the opposition’s motion linked to the martial law declared by the president and withdrawn due to the rejection of Parliament.