South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol escaped impeachment this Saturday, December 7. The motion to this effect tabled by the opposition did not meet the necessary quorum due to the boycott of deputies of the ruling party, the PPP. A total of 200 votes out of 300 were needed to dismiss Yoon Suk Yeol, but only 195 MPs participated in the vote. “Accordingly, I declare that the vote on this issue is invalid,” said National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik.
However, popular pressure to vote for his departure was strong. Nearly 150,000 anti-Yoon protesters, according to police cited by the Yonhap news agency, surrounded the National Assembly, braving the bitter cold. The organizers claimed a million participants. Thousands of Yoon supporters demonstrated in the center of the capital.
Yoon Suk Yeol stunned South Korea on Tuesday evening by announcing the imposition of martial law – an unprecedented measure since 1980, after the coup d’état by dictator Chun Doo-hwan – and by sending the army to Parliament in the aim of muzzling him. In incredible conditions, 190 deputies still managed to hold an emergency session in the night, while their assistants blocked the doors of the hemicycle with furniture to prevent armed soldiers from entering. Unanimously, these deputies voted against martial law, forcing the unpopular conservative president to repeal it after barely six hours.
“I will not shy away from my responsibilities”
In a televised address to the nation lasting just two minutes this Saturday morning, the president, 63, announced that he would entrust his party with taking “measures aimed at stabilizing the political situation, including concerning my mandate”. “I will not shy away from my legal and political responsibilities regarding the declaration of martial law,” he added.
He explained his coup by his “despair as president”, while Parliament largely dominated by the opposition torpedoed practically all his initiatives. “I have caused anxiety and inconvenience to the public. I sincerely apologize,” he concluded before bowing deeply to viewers.
In addition to the impeachment procedure, Yoon Suk Yeol is the target of a police investigation for “rebellion”, a crime theoretically punishable by the death penalty, which has not been applied in the country since 1997.