Ruling party boycotts vote on impeachment – South Korean President Yoon can stay in office

With a deep bow on national television and an apology for the unrest – his first public appearance since his failed coup attempt on Tuesday – Yoon himself attempted to change his opponents’ minds earlier on Saturday. His own People Power Party (PPP) has shown itself to be divided over Yoon’s resignation in recent days and only eight PPP members are needed to help Yoon’s removal in the three-hundred-seat parliament with the required two-thirds majority.

Although PPP members all rejected Yoon’s rash actions, the party announced on Thursday that it would vote against his removal in order to save the country from “chaos”. A day later, however, party leader Han Dong-hoon cast doubt on this. He called Yoon’s “immediate suspension” necessary after it became clear to him that Yoon had wanted to have several prominent political opponents arrested during the short-term military emergency on Wednesday night – not only opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and Parliament Speaker Woo Won-shik, but also Han himself, who has a difficult relationship with Yoon. The presidential office denied reports of the arrests on Friday. Han also said he feared that Yoon would try to declare a state of emergency again.

Tumultuous mood

Yet the PPP managed to maintain enough factional discipline on Saturday to save Yoon’s political life for the time being. After the party narrowly managed to block an investigation into stock manipulation by Yoon’s wife during a tumultuous meeting, all PPP members except one left the meeting room. The leavers were called “traitors” by opposition members. Two other PPP members later returned to the hall to vote. But without the remaining 105 PPP members, insufficient votes would have been cast for a valid result.
Parliament Speaker Woo Won-shik announced shortly before 9:30 p.m. local time that the vote was invalid because only 195 votes had been cast, and ended the meeting. “In a democracy, outcomes are important, but so is the content. I deeply apologize to the Korean people and declare the session adjourned.” The opposition is expected to submit another proposal to oust Yoon at the next parliamentary session later this month.

Because the result was not valid, it was not counted or announced how the parliamentarians voted. It is certain that one PPP member voted against Yoon’s impeachment. The other 194 members – the entire opposition and two remaining PPP representatives – probably voted in favor. Five votes too few for a valid result, and therefore at least six votes too few for the required two-thirds majority to oust Yoon.

Party leader Park Chan-dae of the Democracy Party, the largest opposition party, had nothing good to say about the PPP’s actions. “It is treason for parliamentarians who represent the people to protect someone who has pointed guns at other people’s representatives,” he said in a speech ahead of the vote.

Protesters outside the parliament building reacted angrily to the boycott. “Do your damn job,” shouted 30-year-old Jo Ah-gyeong from Seoul, who was interviewed by the AFP news agency. Still, she is “neither discouraged nor disappointed.” “In the end we will get our way. Until then, I’ll keep coming here.”

In parliament with three hundred seats eight votes from Yoon’s PPP were needed to oust the president, but the PPP faction left the room before the vote.

Scandals

The fact that Yoon declared a military state of emergency on Tuesday evening, for the first time since 1979, was unexpected for friend and foe. Yoon appeared on television just before 11:30 p.m. (local time) and said that “anti-state” and “pro-North Korean” forces were threatening the country. He appointed an army general to lead the emergency, banned all political activity and restricted the press. In the hours that followed, one hundred and ninety parliamentarians, including eighteen members of Yoon’s own PPP, managed to defy the military who tried in vain to prevent an emergency meeting in the National Assembly. There they voted unanimously to lift the state of emergency, a decision that Yoon, in accordance with the constitution, implemented a few hours later.

Nothing has yet emerged of the North Korean threat posed by Yoon. It is clear that the unpopular Yoon – who had less than 20 percent of South Koreans behind him in opinion polls before the state of emergency – was frustrated with parliament, in which his ruling party did not have a majority. That blocked many of his policies, including recently an important budget.

Parliament also urged investigations into the many scandals in which Yoon and his entourage are involved. For example, Yoon’s wife accepted an expensive handbag in exchange for political favors and is suspected of manipulating stock prices.

Massive protests

There have been frequent demonstrations in Seoul for months calling for Yoon’s resignation. After the failed coup attempt, which reminded many South Koreans of the brutal military regime that ruled the country until the 1980s, the protests continued to grow.

Ahead of Saturday’s vote in parliament, tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of the Yeouido district, where the National Assembly is located. One man was arrested before the meeting of parliament for trying to set himself on fire.

It is expected that the protests will grow in the coming weeks now that Yoon will remain in office for the time being. In 2016 and 2017, there were months of massive and mainly peaceful demonstrations against then-conservative President Park Geun-hye, who was accused of corruption. She was eventually impeached by parliament and the Supreme Court and sentenced to 25 years in prison – although her successor pardoned her in 2021.

Although Yoon has been allowed to remain in the presidential office, the already weak president has been further isolated by this week’s events. According to a recent poll, only 13 percent of South Koreans support him. Moreover, in addition to new votes on new impeachment motions, he also faces a police investigation into his actions regarding the state of emergency.

Its international reputation has also suffered a lot of damage, as has South Korea’s reputation as a stable democracy. Parliament Speaker Woo Won-shik pointed this out when he tried in vain to persuade the runaway PPP members to return to the chamber. “The world has praised Korea for its development, K-pop and Korean food are in the spotlight worldwide. (…) This week the world was surprised by the weakness of democracy here, and by its resilience.” He asked the PPP people to take their responsibility.

International reputation

Yoon, who did little in domestic politics, managed to improve the always precarious relations with Japan. Partly because of this, South Korea is known as a pillar of the West in a region where conflicts are simmering around, among others, North Korea – which is fighting in Russia’s Ukraine war – and Taiwan.

After Yoon’s failed coup attempt, the United States canceled several important consultations with Seoul, including one on nuclear arms control. According to South Korean media, the Americans would communicate with South Korea at a low level have put.

This article was updated on Saturday afternoon following the close of the meeting and the final failure of the vote on Yoon’s impeachment.

To share





Email the editor