1 of 2 | Massive crowds called for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster Saturday night. Yoon survived an impeachment motion after his People Power Party boycotted the vote. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
SEOUL, Dec. 7 (UPI) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol survived impeachment on Saturday as all but three members of his party boycotted the vote, granting the embattled leader a temporary reprieve amid public outrage over his short-lived martial law attempt.
Almost all members of the ruling People Power Party left the main hall of the National Assembly ahead of the vote on Saturday evening.
Impeachment requires the support of two-thirds of the 300-member parliament. The opposition controls 192 seats and needed eight votes from the ruling party to pass the motion. Only 195 votes were cast, however, failing to reach a quorum.
Rep. Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the opposition Democratic Party, called for each PPP lawmaker by name to return to the chamber for the vote — singling out several members who had crossed party lines early Wednesday morning to overturn Yoon’s martial law decree after his shocking declaration hours earlier.
“The biggest crisis for the Republic of Korea is Yoon Suk Yeol himself,” Park said. “If we let him be the commander-in-chief and stay in his seat, a second or third martial law could happen … are [People Power Party lawmakers] going to be accomplices to the rebellion or are they going to stand by the people of the Republic of Korea?”
One ruling party lawmaker, Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, remained in the chamber as the voting process began. The opposition kept the vote open for two hours, hoping more PPP members would return but only Rep. Kim Yea-ji and Rep. Kim Sang-wook came back.
Sean King, senior vice president at New York-based consulting firm Park Strategies, called the PPP walkout a “cheap stunt” and said it would only delay Yoon’s inevitable departure while prolonging the country’s suffering.
“Yoon Suk Yeol remains president for now but in name only,” King told UPI. “I expect political paralysis in South Korea going forward, with daily mass demonstrations and motion after motion against Yoon in the Assembly,” King said.
Earlier in the day, Yoon made a brief public apology — his first remarks since rescinding the martial law order on Wednesday after his decree was overturned.
“I am sincerely sorry and apologize to the people who must have been very surprised,” Yoon said in the two-minute televised address. He said he imposed martial law due to “desperation” as president but pledged not to make another attempt.
“For the rest of my term, I will entrust my power to our (ruling) party to stabilize the political situation, ” Yoon said. “Our party and the government will together take responsibility for future state affairs.”
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost the presidential election to Yoon in 2022, said after the vote that the opposition would revive the impeachment motion in the coming days.
“We apologize for not being able to produce the results we wanted,” Lee said.
“We, and the people of the Republic of Korea, will never give up. We will hold accountable those responsible for acts of rebellion, we will overcome all the turmoil in this country, and we will impeach Yoon Suk Yeol, who is the worst danger to the Republic of Korea,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters called for Yoon’s ouster outside the National Assembly on Saturday, waving light sticks and dancing to K-pop music late into the night despite below-freezing temperatures.
Many said they were more determined than ever to keep the pressure on Yoon after the impeachment vote failed.
“We’re mad and we’re going to keep coming out,” Jee Ye-bang, 31, said. “Yoon needs to be removed as soon as possible.”