President Yoon of Korea survives impeachment vote

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has seemingly survived a first vote to impeach him following a brief but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to impose martial law on the country earlier in the week, News.az reports citing foreign media.

This was only made possible after reports from within the voting hall just ahead of the vote scheduled for 5 p.m. local time on December 7 revealed that all but one of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) members had walked out of the National Assembly ahead of ballots being cast.

This meant that there were not enough members remaining in the chamber to successfully impeach the president. Under Korean law, 200 of the 300 members of the National Assembly must agree to impeach a president.

In the end, the only PPP member to stay behind was former professor and presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo who had previously said he would support Yoon's impeachment, although a second PPP politician, Kim Ye-ji, was also reported as re-entering at the last minute to vote.

One more PPP lawmaker then returned while voting was underway, believed to be Kim Sang-wook. Kim had said earlier in the week that he thought it was “inevitable for President Yoon to leave the party or be expelled” Korean news channel YTN reported. It was revealed just before 8 p.m. local time by the BBC that Kim had voted against impeachment.

The casting of ballots was performed in one of five private booths set up at the rear of the main chamber.

The decision by the majority of the PPP members to leave was followed by the Assembly speaker criticising the move as essentially ignoring the will of the Korean people.

Later, during the voting process, he said “The Republic of Korea is a democracy that’s made of people’s blood and tears. Are you not afraid of being judged by history, by the people and by the world?” according to the BBC, adding “Participate in the voting, that’s how you protect our democracy.”

With the impeachment vote still legally required to go ahead, however, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) had refused to reveal the count as of 8 p.m. in the hope that more PPP members would return.

The vote can remain open until just before midnight local time should the DPK so choose.

As a result, and with the final, likely meaningless vote tally still awaiting confirmation, it is believed that impeachment proceedings will have to be delayed until December 11; the earliest date the DPK can initiate a second impeachment vote.

Even if this does happen there is no guarantee at present that PPP members afraid of impeaching their own president will not repeat their boycott for fear of a subsequent early election call.

Meanwhile, outside the Assembly building tens of thousands of South Koreans had been protesting all day ahead of the vote. The numbers surged significantly as the evening went on.

There is now a very real danger that protests could turn violent – a common result when Korean political shenanigans are played out.

Thousands listened as the names of all the PPP members who left the chamber to boycott the vote were read out. The cry of ‘traitors’ was reportedly heard again and again from outside the chamber as it had been from inside when the BBC reported that DPK and other lawmakers were shouting “Traitors, go back in” as PPP members left.

Security services in the South Korean capital will now be on edge overnight and every day until December 11 as tens of thousands continue protesting. And with the nation’s largest union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions saying it will remain on indefinite strike until the president is removed from office, significant economic repercussions are expected on December 9 when the market opens again.

News.Az