Martial Law Crisis: South Korean Parliament again voted to impeach President Suk Yeol
It’s not a good news to the South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, his family and his conservative People Power Party’s supporters, as the Parliament again voted for his impeachment.
This move was prompted after Yoon Suk Yeol short-lived attempt to declare martial law earlier on.
Yeo’s presidential powers will formally be suspended once he is served with a copy of the impeachment resolution which took place on Saturday.
There are indications that the embattled president Yoon Suk Yeol will likely be serve the impeachment notice next week. And if that is done, then the Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will swiftly take over as acting president while the country’s Constitutional Court takes up the matter.
The court has six months to rule on the impeachment motion, which if confirmed will trigger a snap election to choose a new president.
Recall that several members of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party earlier joined opposition lawmakers to pass the threshold of 200 votes (two-thirds of the legislature), required for his impeachment. The final vote was 204 to 85.
Outside the National Assembly, loud cheers washed over a large crowd of pro-impeachment protesters, some of whom had set up free coffee and food stalls for fellow participants.
“This is a triumph of democracy and of the South Korean people,” Park Chan-dae, the opposition party floor leader, said after the vote.
Some of his party loyalists had resisted backing the opposition-led push to impeach him, saying they would seek an “orderly resignation” instead.But recent developments made that position untenable.
Multiple evidents have emerged contradicting Yoon’s claim that his declaration of martial lawon Dec. 3 was meant only as a show of force to the opposition-controlled National Assembly- which he described as filled with “anti-state” saboteurs and North Korea sympathizers.
A document leaked to opposition lawmaker Choo Mi-ae from the military’s counterintelligence unit showed that preparations for the declaration had been made at least a month in advance, and that the military had reviewed available medical facilities in seeming anticipation of bloodshed.
A senior officer in the unit has also informed lawmakers that he was given a list of key politicians to be arrested.
Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, the commander of the special forces unit testified this week that Yoon personally ordered him to prevent the gathering of 150 lawmakers, the threshold needed to overturn a martial law declaration.
“Hurry up and break down the door and drag out anyone inside,” Kwak recalled Yoon telling him on the phone.
