South Korea: Move to Impeach President Yoon Fails
NEW DELHI, Dec 7: Even as a majority of the South Korean people seem to be supporting impeachment of the President Yoon Suk Yeol for imposing his short-lived emergency, the impeachment motion fell through in the South Korean Parliament on Saturday after most lawmakers from his conservative governing party boycotted the vote.
The defeat of the motion is expected to intensify public protests calling for Mr Yoon’s ouster and deepen political chaos in South Korea as a recent survey found that a majority of South Koreans support the President’s impeachment.
Mr Yoon’s martial law declaration drew criticism from his own ruling conservative party, but it is also determined to oppose Yoon’s impeachment apparently because it fears losing the presidency to liberals. Impeaching Mr Yoon required support from two-thirds of the National Assembly, that is 200 of its 300 members.
The opposition parties who brought the impeachment motion had 192 seats, but only three lawmakers from PPP participated in the vote. The motion was scrapped without ballot counting because the number of votes didn’t reach 200.
Earlier Saturday, Mr Yoon issued a public apology over the martial law decree, saying he won’t shirk legal or political responsibility for the declaration and promising not to make another attempt to impose martial law. He said would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
“The declaration of this martial law was made out of my desperation. But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconveniences to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologize to the people who must have been shocked a lot,” Mr Yoon said.
Since taking office in 2022, Mr Yoon has struggled to push his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament and grappled with low approval ratings amid scandals involving himself and his wife. In his martial law announcement on Tuesday night, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” bogging down state affairs and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces.”
The turmoil resulting from Mr Yoon’s bizarre and poorly-thought-out stunt has paralyzed South Korean politics and sparked alarm among key diplomatic partners, including neighbouring Japan and Seoul’s top ally the United States, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader.
Tuesday night saw special forces troops encircling the parliament building and army helicopters hovering over it, but the military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn the decree, forcing Yoon to lift it before daybreak Wednesday. The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea. Eighteen lawmakers from the ruling party voted to reject Yoon’s martial law decree along with opposition lawmakers.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people packed streets near the National Assembly, waving banners, shouting slogans and dancing and singing along to K-pop songs with lyrics changed to call for Mr Yoon’s ouster. A smaller crowd of Mr Yoon’s supporters, which still seemed to be in the thousands, rallied in separate streets in Seoul, decrying the impeachment attempt they saw as unconstitutional.
Lawmakers on Saturday first voted on a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate stock price manipulation allegations surrounding Mr Yoon’s wife. Some lawmakers from Mr Yoon’s party were seen leaving the hall after that vote, triggering angry shouts from opposition lawmakers. Opposition lawmakers say that Mr Yoon’s attempt at martial law amounted to a self-coup, and drafted the impeachment motion around rebellion charges.
(Manas Dasgupta)
