South Korean President Escapes Impeachment Vote Despite Controversial Martial Law Decision
The South Korean National Assembly failed to reach the required 200 lawmakers for a quorum.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol survived an initial impeachment attempt over his brief martial law declaration earlier in the week.
Yoon’s political opposition led the impeachment vote on Dec. 7, but with only 195 lawmakers casting votes and Yoon’s party boycotting the vote, a quorum was not reached in the 300-seat legislature.
Speaker Woo Won-shik expressed disappointment that there were not enough lawmakers present for the vote to count.
“The entire nation is watching the decision being made here at the National Assembly today. The world is watching,” he said.
The impeachment supporters aimed to reprimand Yoon for declaring martial law over the country on Dec. 3, accusing his political rivals of supporting North Korea and hindering the government’s work.
Despite the National Assembly’s decision to overturn Yoon’s martial law order, the South Korean military stated that the order would persist until Yoon lifted it. Yoon eventually rescinded the martial law order on Dec. 4, about six hours after declaring it.
Before the impeachment vote on Saturday, Yoon apologized for the disruption caused by his martial law decree.
Yoon admitted accountability for his actions and promised to not invoke martial law in the future, but he refused to resign.
Yoon’s People Power Party opposed the impeachment proceedings, while party leader Han Dong-hoon suggested that Yoon should be immediately suspended from office to protect the country and its citizens based on new revelations.
Following the unsuccessful impeachment attempt on Saturday, the main opposition Democratic Party leaders vowed to make another effort.
“It’s not over until it’s over. The Democratic Party will not give up. We will immediately re-promote the impeachment of the insurgent leader, Yoon Seok-yeol,” said Park Chan-dae, the Democratic Party’s floor leader.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more details become available.
Caden Pearson and Reuters contributed to this article.
