Thousands demonstrate
Vote failed: South Korean President Yoon remains in office
South Korea’s parliament voted – accompanied by large protests – on the impeachment of President Yoon. The majority of the ruling party refused to take part.
A few days after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law, a motion to remove the head of state from office failed in the country’s parliament. The opposition’s motion against the head of state failed to secure the required two-thirds majority on Saturday after most MPs from Yoon’s party boycotted the vote.
Only 195 of the 300 parliamentarians approved the impeachment motion, as the chairman of the National Assembly, Woo Won Shik, announced. The required quorum was missed by five votes. “Consequently, I declare that the vote on this question is void,” Woo said.
Yoon keeps his own ranks together
Yoon’s ruling party, PP, has 108 seats. The approval of at least eight PP representatives would have been required to remove the president. Television images showed most PP MPs leaving the chamber before voting began. Only three PP parliamentarians took part in the vote.
So Yoon remains president for now. But public pressure against the 63-year-old is unlikely to let up in the coming days.
Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans demonstrate against the president
Meanwhile, a large demonstration against the conservative head of state took place in front of parliament. According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, the police said there were 150,000 participants and the organizers said there were a million. As images of MPs leaving the chamber spread, many demonstrators booed. Some even burst into tears, and some of the protesters went home.
That morning, Yoon apologized to his people for temporarily imposing martial law in a televised speech. He also promised that something like this would not happen again under his leadership. He will take “legal and political responsibility” for his actions and leave it to his party to decide how long he should remain in office.
Martial law for a few hours
Yoon declared martial law on Tuesday evening because of a budget dispute between his PP party and the largest opposition party, the DP. His reasoning was to protect a “liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist troops and to eliminate anti-state elements.” It was the first time since South Korea’s transition to democracy in the late 1980s that the country’s head of state declared martial law.
Although the head of state lifted martial law a few hours later after massive resistance and a parliamentary veto, he still plunged the East Asian country into political chaos.
Note: This article has been updated.
AFP · DPA
yks
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
