South Koreaʼs parliament failed to approve the impeachment of President Yoon Seok Yeol, who imposed martial law in the country, due to the absence of ruling party lawmakers.
This is reported by Yonhap.
Representatives of the ruling "Power of the People" party did not participate in the vote, with the exception of three deputies. The representatives of the political force began to leave the hall of the plenary meeting before the project was put to a vote.
As a result, only 195 out of 300 registered MPs participated in the vote. 200 votes were needed to approve the document.
At the same time, the opposition Democratic Party of Korea warned even before the vote that if the bill is rejected, it will again be put to the vote at the extraordinary National Assembly on the 11th.
What preceded
Yoon Seok Yeol declared martial law in the country on the night of December 3-4 to "protect the constitutional order" — the first time since the 1980s. The reason was that the opposition Democratic Party of South Korea, which has a majority in the parliament, rejected the governmentʼs budget proposal and decided to impeach the state auditor and the chief prosecutor.
An hour later, South Koreaʼs parliament passed a resolution calling for martial law to be lifted. 190 MPs out of 190 who took part in the vote spoke in favour of the decision. In total, South Korea has 300 MPs, but only 190 of them were able to get into the parliament building, despite being surrounded by soldiers storming the National Assembly building.
After that, the South Korean government supported the "plan to lift martial law" demanded by the parliament. The office of the countryʼs prime minister reported that the proposal was approved at 04:30 local time. Martial law lasted for about six hours.
When parliamentarians adopted the resolution, people sang the national anthem and applauded in the streets. According to preliminary estimates, four thousand citizens gathered near the parliament building. Korean trade union flags could be seen in the crowd.
The opposition of South Korea submitted a draft law on the impeachment of the president.
- President Yoon Seok Yeol has low approval ratings in the country, particularly due to rising food and housing prices, labor conflicts and a sharp drop in the birth rate. The presidentʼs reputation has also been under fire over a hidden camera video of First Lady Kim Keon Hee allegedly accepting a $2 200 Dior bag as a gift.
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