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South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol looks set to survive an impeachment motion after striking a last-minute deal with his conservative People Power party, leading its members to boycott the vote.
The strike triggered calls to “impeach Yin.” and “Get to the Vote!” protests by protesters will add to political unrest in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, following a tumultuous week that showed the durability and fragility of South Korea’s democracy.
The opposition, which controls 192 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly, was confident earlier this week of getting the votes of eight PPP lawmakers and reaching the two-thirds majority needed to impeach the president.
But after Yoon delivered a brief apology in a one-minute speech on Saturday morning, People’s Party leaders said they would not support the motion and walked out of the parliament chamber.
All but one member of the People’s Party caucus left the House ahead of the impeachment vote after voting down a bill to investigate allegations of stock manipulation by Yoon’s wife, Kim Kun-hee.
Several members returned. The deadlock left the vote unresolved and the parliamentary session will continue until after midnight local time.
The strike frustrated thousands of people who gathered outside parliament on Saturday to demand Yin be ousted over Tuesday’s failed attempt to impose martial law.
“I’m very sad,” said Oh Sang-jin, a 65-year-old retiree who participated in the protest outside the National Assembly. “Many people sacrificed their lives to democratize the country – now they are trying to turn back the clock and allow dictatorship to rule.”
Analysts said Yoon Eun-hye and People’s Party leaders appeared to have struck a deal in which the president would hand over the country’s political direction to his party and agree to step down at a time of the party’s choosing in exchange for support in an impeachment vote. Yoon’s presidential term is expected to run until 2027.
A former official in President Yoon’s administration said that while most South Korean conservatives did not condone President Yoon’s actions this week, they were “traumatized” by the experience of the 2017 impeachment of former conservative President Park Geun-hye, a move that left South Korea’s president Park Geun-hye’s impeachment paved the way.
By suspending Yin’s execution, she said, they hope to buy themselves time to prepare for a presidential election when Yin eventually steps down.
Political commentator Seo Bok-kyung said the People’s Party was “complacent” in believing that the arrangement with Yoon Eun-hye would quell public anger.
“The public is unlikely to accept any kind of backroom dealings between Yoon Eun-hye and the party,” Xu said.
“Chinese [Dong-hoon, the PPP leader] Yin may think he can control the situation, but Yin is not one to let Han decide things. Once time passes, he does something more dangerous to regain control.
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