December 7th 2024.
The recent events in South Korea have been nothing short of chaotic, with a legislative push to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol falling through on Saturday after most lawmakers from his conservative governing party boycotted the vote. This defeat of the motion is expected to only add fuel to the fire, as public protests demanding Yoon's ouster are likely to intensify. In fact, a recent survey has shown that a majority of South Koreans actually support the president's impeachment.
Yoon's decision to impose martial law had drawn criticism from his own party, but surprisingly, they were also determined to oppose his impeachment. This seems to be driven by their fear of losing the presidency to the liberal party. In order to impeach Yoon, support from two-thirds of the National Assembly was required, which meant 200 out of 300 members needed to vote in favor. However, with only 192 seats held by the opposition parties who brought forth the motion, the vote was doomed from the start. The motion was ultimately scrapped without even counting the votes, as they did not reach the required 200.
The National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik expressed his disappointment at the result, calling it a "very regrettable" and embarrassing moment for the country's democracy. He emphasized that the failure to hold a qualified vote on such a critical national issue only highlights the dysfunction in the government. The opposition parties are now planning to submit a new impeachment motion next week, when a new parliamentary session begins.
There are concerns now that Yoon may not be able to serve out his remaining two and a half years in office due to the significant hit his leadership has taken. Experts believe that some ruling party lawmakers may eventually join the opposition's efforts to impeach Yoon, especially if public demands for it continue to grow. If Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. In such a case, a new election to replace him must be held within 60 days.
As the vote was taking place, Woo repeatedly urged ruling party members to return to the chamber and participate. However, they refused to do so, causing a delay in the voting process. In a desperate attempt to persuade them, Democratic Party leaders even visited a hall where PPP lawmakers were gathered, but they were denied entry. This led to accusations of the conservatives' leadership preventing their lawmakers from voting freely.
On Saturday, Yoon himself issued a public apology for his martial law declaration, taking full responsibility for it and promising not to make another attempt to impose it. He also stated that he would leave the decisions regarding his term in office to his party. Since coming into office in 2022, Yoon has faced numerous challenges in pushing his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament, and his approval ratings have been low due to scandals involving himself and his wife. In his speech announcing martial law, Yoon had referred to the parliament as a "den of criminals" and vowed to eliminate any "shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces."
The aftermath of Yoon's poorly-thought-out stunt has thrown South Korean politics into disarray and raised concerns among key diplomatic partners like the US and Japan. On Tuesday night, special forces troops were seen surrounding the parliament building and army helicopters flying over it. However, the military was withdrawn after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn the decree, forcing Yoon to lift it before daybreak on Wednesday. This was the first time martial law had been declared in South Korea in over 40 years. Eighteen ruling party lawmakers joined the opposition in rejecting Yoon's martial law decree.
Yoon's speech on Saturday only added to the speculation that he and his party may push for a constitutional amendment to shorten his term instead of accepting impeachment as a way to appease the public and facilitate his early exit from office. However, the leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, has stated that the only way forward is for Yoon to immediately resign or face impeachment. His party has also labeled Yoon's martial law as an "unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or coup."
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday, with protesters densely packed on several blocks leading up to the National Assembly. They waved banners, shouted slogans, and danced and sang along to K-pop songs with lyrics changed to call for Yoon's ouster. There were also protests in front of PPP's headquarters near the Assembly, with angry demands for their lawmakers to vote for Yoon's impeachment. A smaller crowd of Yoon's supporters also rallied in separate streets in Seoul, denouncing the impeachment attempt as unconstitutional.
The lawmakers first voted on a bill to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of stock price manipulation involving Yoon's wife. After this vote, some PPP lawmakers were seen leaving the hall, which sparked angry shouts from opposition lawmakers. On Friday, PPP chair Han Dong-hun had criticized Yoon's martial law declaration and revealed that he had received intelligence that during the brief period of martial law, Yoon had ordered the country's defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain key politicians on accusations of "anti-state activities."
In a closed-door briefing on Friday, Hong Jang-won, the first deputy director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, revealed that Yoon had ordered him to assist the defense counter-intelligence unit in detaining these key politicians. The targets included Han, Lee, and Woo, according to one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting. In response, the Defense Ministry announced that it had suspended three military commanders, including the head of the defense counter-intelligence unit, over their involvement in enforcing martial law. Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho stated that Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun had ordered the deployment of troops to the National Assembly after Yoon declared martial law. The opposition parties accused Kim of recommending to Yoon to enforce martial law. Kim resigned on Thursday, and a travel ban was imposed on him by prosecutors.
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