Today, December 7, the South Korean parliament failed to approve the impeachment of President Yoon Seok-yul, who recently imposed martial law in the country, due to a lack of votes.
Bloomberg reports this.
Yoon Seok-yul avoided impeachment: what is known
South Korea's incumbent President Yun Seok-yul has avoided impeachment after his ruling party refused to join the opposition's attempt to remove him after he declared martial law, which was later lifted.
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The impeachment vote fell short of the 200 votes needed to remove the president after the ruling party boycotted the vote.
The opposition waited a long time for members of the ruling party to change their minds and vote for impeachment. Although some of them did so, it eventually became clear that the proposal would not pass.
With this in mind, the opposition, which controls the majority in the legislature, said it would quickly seek a re-vote.
The attempted ouster of the president came after Yoon, 63, rattled markets and surprised world leaders by declaring martial law for the first time since South Korea became a democracy nearly four decades ago.
He rescinded the order six hours after lawmakers voted to do so.
While the result leaves Yoon Seok-yeol in office for now, the ruling People's Power Party will need to quickly find ways to shore up the administration and stabilize the situation to avoid the kind of escalating public protests that have plagued South Korea in the past.
Minutes after the failed vote, opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung accused the ruling party of betraying the people. He apologized for failing to hold the vote as other opposition lawmakers stood next to him holding signs that read, “Impeach Yoon Seok Yeol.”
— We will eventually impeach Yoon Seok Yeol. We will return the country to normal like a Christmas present for you, — Lee Jae Meng said.
The ruling party's decision to boycott the vote came hours after Yoon apologized for declaring martial law, saying he was leaving it up to the ruling party to decide his fate.
The opposition bloc needed just eight votes from the ruling party to impeach Yoon. But Yun's conservatives refused to vote for the motion, which would likely hand their political opponents a major victory in the snap election that would be called if he were removed.
