SoKor president’s party boycotts impeach vote
SEOUL—Members of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s party left parliament ahead of a planned impeachment vote on Saturday over his attempt to impose martial law.
As lawmakers debated the motion, filed by the main opposition Democratic Party, only a single member of Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) remained in his seat, casting doubts over whether the measure would reach the two-thirds threshold to pass.
To impeach Yoon, 200 of the assembly’s 300 lawmakers must vote in favor. With opposition parties controlling 192 seats, eight ruling party members would need to join the opposition to carry the vote.
The opposition needs at least eight votes from the PPP.
As PPP lawmakers departed after casting votes on a separate motion to appoint a special prosecutor in investigate the first lady, some people shouted and cursed them.
Opposition leaders have said if the impeachment motion fails they plan to revisit it again on Wednesday.
Yoon earlier in the day apologized for his attempt to impose martial law this week but did not resign, defying intense pressure to step down even from some in his ruling party.
Yoon said he would not seek to avoid legal and political responsibility for his decision to declare martial law for the first time in South Korea since 1980.
He said the decision was born of desperation.
Crisis
The speech was the embattled leader’s first public appearance since he rescinded the martial law order early on Wednesday, just six hours after it was declared and after parliament defied military and police cordons to vote against the decree.
The move plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy and key US military ally into its greatest political crisis in decades, and threatened to shatter South Korea’s reputation as a democratic success story.
“I am very sorry and would like to sincerely apologize to the people who were shocked,” Yoon said in a televised address to the nation, promising there would be no second attempt to impose martial law.
“I leave it up to my party to take steps to stabilize the political situation in the future, including the issue of my term in office,” he said.
Standing in front of the South Korean flag, Yoon bowed after he finished his brief remarks, staring solemnly into the camera for a moment.
Han Dong-hoon, leader of Yoon’s ruling party, said after the address that the president was no longer in a position to carry out his public duties and his resignation was now unavoidable.
‘Danger to country’
On Friday, Han said Yoon was a danger to the country and needed to be removed from power, increasing the pressure on Yoon to quit even though PPP members later reaffirmed a formal opposition to his impeachment.
Han met Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Saturday, local Yonhap News reported.
Under the constitution if Yoon resigns or is impeached then the prime minister, who was appointed by Yoon, becomes South Korea’s acting president.
If Yoon leaves office before his single five-year term ends in May 2027, the constitution requires a presidential election to be held within 60 days upon his departure.
Martial law has been declared more than a dozen times since South Korea was established as a republic in 1948.
