South Korean president’s party boycotts martial law impeachment vote
SEOUL – Members of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s party left parliament ahead of a planned impeachment vote on Saturday over his attempt to impose martial law.
As lawmakers debated the motion, filed by the main opposition Democratic Party, only a single member of Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) remained in his seat, casting doubts over whether the measure would reach the two-thirds threshold to pass, as the opposition needs at least eight votes from the PPP.
As PPP lawmakers departed after casting votes on a separate motion to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the first lady, some people shouted and cursed them.
Opposition leaders have said if the impeachment motion fails, they plan to revisit it again on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Yoon apologised for his attempt to impose martial law this week but did not resign, defying intense pressure to step down even from some in his ruling party.
Yoon said he would not seek to avoid legal and political responsibility for his decision to declare martial law, which is the first in South Korea since 1980.
The move plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy and key U.S. military ally into its greatest political crisis in decades, and threatened to shatter South Korea’s reputation as a democratic success story.
