The boycott of almost all parliamentarians of the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) in South Korea has made it extremely difficult for the motion to dismiss the South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, to be voted on this Saturday in the National Assembly of this year. country. The parliamentary initiative to disqualify Yoon began voting after 6:00 p.m. local time today (9:00 GMT) after all but two PPP deputies left the chamber, so if even these voted in favor, the motion would fail.
For the dismissal motion to succeed, the support of two-thirds of the chamber is required, which means that the opposition bloc (which has a clear parliamentary majority with 192 seats) would need to have at least eight additional votes among the 108 with the told by the ruling People’s Power Party.
The key to the vote is the discipline of the deputies of Yoon’s People Power Party. Although this force has marked the political line of supporting the president to remain in power, strong voices within it have also criticized the president for resorting to martial law without justification last Tuesday.
According to The Guardian, citing local mediathree PPP MPs have returned to the chamber to vote after leaving. One of them, Kim Sang-wook, told the media that he returned to the chamber because he considered the decision important, but that he voted against the president’s motion, in line with his party’s official position.
Han Dong-hoon, the head of the party, called this Friday for the “immediate suspension of the president from his duties with a view to protecting the Republic of Korea (the official name of the country) and its people,” and this same Saturday he stated that a Yoon’s “prompt resignation” is “inevitable” and added that the party will deliberate the best way to proceed, before the parliamentary vote. His statements come after Yoon apologized “for causing concern and inconvenience to citizens,” in a speech in which he also said that he left “the stabilization of the political situation, including his mandate,” in the hands of his party.
The vote on this motion in the Assembly comes after another proposal to establish an investigation into the first lady, Kim Keon-hee, for alleged corruption, which did not go ahead with a result of 198 votes in favor and 102 against, which which already pointed to the failure of the initiative to remove Yoon.
This result reflected that only six members of the PPP had broken the voting discipline established by the conservative formation, which agreed this Saturday to reject the motion against Yoon, after having made several vacillations in previous days regarding the matter.
A controversial martial law as a trigger
The main opposition party, the Democratic Party (PD), and the other five political forces presented a motion to remove Yoon last Wednesday, after the president unexpectedly declared martial law on Tuesday night, accusing the opposition of “anti-state activities” and being “pro-North Korean forces.”
The state of emergency was lifted after the opposition parties and some of the PPP itself voted in the National Assembly to revoke that measure just a few hours after it was decreed, and despite the attempts of the police and South Korean troops to block access to parliament and take control of the chamber.
Massive protest at the doors of the Assembly
While the parliamentary vote was taking place this Saturday, some 149,000 people – according to police data – gathered in front of the Assembly to demand that Yoon resign from his position or be dismissed.
The protest, in which civil and political platforms participate, as well as the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the largest union group in the country, began at 3:00 p.m. local time (6:00 GMT) in front of the headquarters of the legislative body, and in through a large security deployment.
Some of the participating groups, including the union confederation, gathered in other parts of the capital before the general protest and moved to the Assembly in what they called a ‘National Vigil March’ that could last throughout the afternoon and evening. night based on the results of today’s vote.
Citizens coming from other parts of the country on trips organized by civil associations or union groups participate in the protest, while in the Yeouido district, where the Assembly is located, there are hundreds of police deployed to prevent incidents.
A man in his 50s was arrested at the beginning of the rally after trying to immolate himself in the vicinity of the National Assembly, and had to be hospitalized without his condition being revealed, according to the local Yonhap agency.
Due to the significant crowding, the metro operator has reported that the convoys will not stop in the next few hours at the two stations closest to Parliament.
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