Yoon Escapes First Attempt at Impeachment
But reports are he will leave office "early."
The aftermath of the marital law/autogolpe attempt continues to roil on in South Korea.
NBC News reports: South Korean president’s impeachment fails after ruling party lawmakers walk out.
A plan to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law has failed after members of his governing party left parliament on Saturday ahead of the planned vote.
Lawmakers from the People Power Party (PPP) were shouted and cursed at as they left en masse after voting on a separate motion, leaving the 192 opposition lawmakers eight votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for the impeachment motion to succeed.
Opposition lawmakers had said that if the impeachment motion didn’t pass they would come back to it on Wednesday, amid simmering public anger over Yoon’s bewildering order, which plunged the East Asian democracy and key U.S. ally into chaos.
Exactly what the PPP is maneuvering towards is unclear, as the same report notes the following.
Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the PPP, urged Yoon to step down, telling reporters after the address that it had become “impossible” for him to carry out his normal presidential duties.
Reuters reports the following: South Korea’s ruling party said President Yoon will go early after impeachment vote failed.
The statement from Han Dong-hoon, chief of President Yoon’s ruling People Power Party:
The People Power Party will pursue an orderly departure of the president to minimize confusion. The president has already said that he will follow the party’s decision on his term, so there will be no confusion. We will only proceed in a predictable and transparent manner that is in the best interest of the Republic of Korea and the people, so that the people will not feel anxious.
We will also consult with the Democratic Party during the process. Until the president leaves office, the president will be effectively excluded from his duties, and the prime minister will consult with the party to manage state affairs without a hitch. We will also faithfully exchange opinions with the opposition party.
Yoon’s approval has fallen to 13% and it seems that his days in office are numbered. From a democratic health standpoint, one hopes the PPP is clearly involved in his exit, even if they were not willing to join in an impeachment vote today (although that would have been the best signal, in my view).
The last time a PPP president was impeached in 2016 (weird how PPP presidents keep needing to be impeached /sarc), the lawmakers from the PPP who voted for it were all punished by voters in the next election, so what they are maneuvering towards is getting Yoon out without having to personally take a stand on impeaching him.
@Stormy Dragon: Sounds like GOP senators and Trump. Except for the part about maneuvering to get him out.
@gVOR10: Ayup. As I suggested earlier this week, conservatism world wide has lost its inclinations to be a force for good government, choosing naked authoritarian rule instead.
@Stormy Dragon: Were the lawmakers who voted against the 2016 impeachment punished?
Sigh. It would be nice if democracy were one of those traditional values that conservatives were trying to protect.