South Korea’s President Survives Impeachment Bid
(Very Disappointing)
“Opposition lawmakers failed to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over the political crisis he sparked by declaring martial law earlier this week. Tens of thousands of protesters had gathered.
Pinned
An attempt to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea ended in failure on Saturday, prolonging the political upheaval and uncertainty that has roiled the country since his short imposition of martial law this week.
The opposition’s impeachment effort was foiled by the president’s People Power Party, which said shortly before the assembly session that they had agreed to oppose the bill. To impeach, the assembly needed a two-thirds vote from the 300-member assembly, requiring at least eight defections from Yoon’s party.
“I am so angry. I can’t find the words to describe my frustration," said Kim Hyo-lim, 23, right, who had come to the protest against President Yoon with her colleague No Ji-su, 25. "I am devastated, but I feel honored to be a part of this historic moment for my country.”
“I was hoping that the lawmakers would come back instead of leaving like this,” Subin Park, 29, said, referring to members of President Yoon's party after he survived the impeachment motion. “I’m disappointed.”
Many protesters said they would not give up. “I plan to come every weekend,” said Park, who had traveled from Bucheon, west of Seoul. “I hope a lot of people will show up from Monday.”
Protesters are leaving the area outside the National Assembly.
A caged effigy of President Yoon is left in on the street as the protest site empties.
When an activist announced that the impeachment motion had failed, the crowd in front of the stage reacted with a silence. Then it roared to another activist’s condemnation of the result. “We will not stay still.”
The crowd in front of the National Assembly is significantly smaller. But those who remained shouted with the same intensity: “Impeach Yoon Suk Yeol!”
The speaker of the assembly has declared the number of votes fell short of the quorum needed. The attempt to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol has failed.
“The South Korean people were watching our decision today. Nations around the world were watching us. It is utterly unfortunate that the vote effectively didn’t occur,” the speaker of the National Assembly, Woo Won-shik, a member of the opposition party, said as he closed the session. He apologized to the Korean people.
Many outside the National Assembly are experiencing a protest for the first time, including Shin Yeon-seo, 19. “Coming here convinced me that a lot of people share my opinion,” she said. “The atmosphere is bright and it’s fun.”
Saturday’s protest was also the first for An Ye-young, 19, who said her parents disagreed with her politically. “For many of us who don’t usually pay attention to politics, and have just turned old enough to vote, this has been a wake-up call,” she said.
The mood among the protesters is tense, but the organizers are trying to keep up the energy in the crowd. Many demonstrators are waving cheering sticks they got from past K-pop concerts. A group of drummers is playing in one section of the crowd as protesters continue to chant for lawmakers from the president's party to vote.
Demonstrators at a rally in central Seoul to support President Yoon did not want to talk about him or the short-lived martial law. Person after person instead criticized the leader of the main opposition party, Lee Jae-myung, calling him a communist.
An organizer of the protest, one of South Korea’s largest and most aggressive labor unions, said in a statement that it was getting protesters to surround the National Assembly complex to bar lawmakers from leaving.
The president's party had asked its members to leave the Assembly hall before the vote started. The tactic has been used by political parties to prevent lawmakers from voting against the party line during anonymous balloting.
“Wow,” said Lee Soo-jin, 35, when asked how she would feel if the impeachment motion fails. “Actually, I wasn’t thinking about that at all,” she said, holding a hand warmer as she participated in the demonstration outside the National Assembly. Lee said she would protest until President Yoon is impeached.
Opposition lawmakers have slowed down the voting, hoping that members of President Yoon's party will return.
Mun Kyoung Yang, 52, came to Seoul from the city of Gwangju, where there was a deadly crackdown under martial law in 1980. She cried outside the National Assembly as lawmakers voted on a special prosecutor for President Yoon’s wife. She was devastated when the motion did not pass. “I don’t know what democracy is anymore," she said.
The demonstration around the National Assembly has swelled significantly, even as temperatures drop and night falls. The police have blocked off more streets to traffic and the crowd has spread out over several blocks and intersections. Many are holding up candles and colorful light sticks.
The protesters are shouting for the People Power Party to return the National Assembly and take part in the impeachment vote.
The crowd of protesters marching toward the National Assembly appears undeterred. They are still chanting, “Impeach Yoon Suk Yeol.”
Lawmakers have started voting on whether to impeach President Yoon. But with only one lawmaker from his party present, there are not enough lawmakers to pass the bill.
Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is reading the names of lawmakers from the president's party one by one, appealing to them to return to the hall. Other opposition lawmakers are standing and repeating those names.
An opposition lawmaker has said just one of the 108 lawmakers from President Yoon’s People Power Party is in his seat. That would mean there are not enough lawmakers in the hall to reach the number of votes needed pass the motion to impeach the president.
The bill calling for a special prosecutor to investigate South Korea’s first lady, Kim Keon Hee, has failed in the National Assembly.
Shouts of “Impeach!” rang out among the swelling crowd of protesters outside the National Assembly building at 5 p.m. as lawmakers began a session in which they were expected to vote on a motion to impeach President Yoon.
After voting on the bill on the first lady, members of President Yoon’s People Power Party began leaving the Assembly hall, indicating that they will not participate in the vote on whether to impeach him.
The People Power Party had earlier said that it would vote against the impeachment bill. It appears they have decided to express their objection to the bill by not participating in the vote.
Lawmakers have started voting on a bill calling for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of stock price manipulation and other crimes involving South Korea’s first lady, Kim Keon Hee.
Tens of thousands of protesters massed outside South Korea’s National Assembly on Saturday, calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster as the lawmakers inside voted on whether to impeach him.
By the time Mr. Yoon had survived the impeachment motion, the crowd in Seoul had thinned out, but many said they would not give up.
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea delivered the following televised address on Saturday morning:”
My fellow citizens,
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