Effort to oust South Korea’s president fails after ruling party leaves

Opposition leaders hope to topple South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol over their own brief martial declaration The law hit on Saturday, after members of the ruling party left the chamber, preventing parliament from reaching the threshold to impeach the president.

The ruling party’s boycott of the vote on Saturday made it almost impossible to reach 200 votes. Another attempt could come next week, at the start of the next session, The Associated Press (AP) informed.

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik denounced the result as shameful and “very unfortunate,” according to the AP.

“Not having a qualified vote on this issue means that we have not even been able to exercise the democratic procedure of deciding on a critical national issue,” he said.

Yoon’s decision to declare martial law earlier this week it caused an uproar among the nation’s parliament, and protests have since erupted in the streets.

Although he received some pushback from members of his own party, they were reluctant to support the impeachment effort, worried about losing the presidency to the opposition party.

To successfully impeach the president, lawmakers in parliament needed two-thirds support, 200 of the 300 members, for the vote. The coalition of opposition parties has 192 seats in total, meaning only eight members of Yoon’s People’s Power Party were needed to tip the balance.

If lawmakers had succeeded in impeaching Yoon, his powers would have been whittled away. The Constitutional Court would then vote to determine whether the president should be removed from office, and elections would follow within 60 days.

Before attempting to declare martial law, Yoon described the legislature as a “den for criminals” that is “trying to overthrow” the nation’s democracy.

the parliament blocked his motion on Wednesday, an effort that ended the president asking for forgiveness on Saturday

“I am very sorry and sincerely apologize to the people who may have been surprised,” Yoon said. “I will not shy away from the question of legal and political responsibility in relation to the declaration of martial law.”

He has promised not to declare martial law again.

Steff Danielle Thomas and The Associated Press contributed to the report.

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