South Korean Lawmakers To Vote On Impeachment Motion Against President Yoon For Second Time

President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment vote led by the opposition will be held again on Saturday at 4 pm. To impeach Yoon, 200 votes will be required.

South Korea's constitutional court would have 180 days to decide Yoon's fate.

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South Korean lawmakers are set to vote again on an opposition-led impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday. This comes after the initial attempt to oust failed, the National Assembly is set to vote at 4 pm local time on whether to impeach him for “insurrectionary acts undermining the constitutional order”. Yoon survived an impeachment vote after most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a floor vote.

Two days ago, Yoon defended his controversial martial law decree and vowed to resist mounting calls for his ouster.

The six opposition parties collectively hold 192 seats in the 300-member unicameral parliament, eight seats short of the two-thirds majority required to pass the impeachment motion against Yoon To pass the impeachment, two hundred votes are required, this would mean that 8 parliamentarians from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) would have to change sides. It remains uncertain whether lawmakers from the PPP will vote the same way again.

On Friday, seven ruling party lawmakers had pledged to support impeachment.

Meanwhile, public protests against President Yoon have intensified, and his approval rating has plunged.

According to the Associated Press (AP), thousands of people took to the streets in Seoul over the past two weeks and are calling for Yoon’s removal from office and arrest. Yoon’s supporters gathered in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun boulevard and claimed that the opposition’s impeachment push was “unconstitutional” and “false propaganda.”

Yoon’s martial law imposition, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, lasted only six hours on December 3 but caused political havoc which halted diplomatic activities and rattled financial markets.

Yoon was forced to lift his decree after parliament unanimously voted to overturn it.

As per AP, opposition parties and many experts accuse Yoon of rebellion and said that by law, the president of South Korea is allowed to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergencies but does not have the authority to suspend parliamentary operations, even under martial law.

Opposition lawmaker Kim Min-seok said on Friday that he was “99%” confident the impeachment motion would pass.

As per a report by The Guardian, if approved, President Yoon would be suspended from office while South Korea's constitutional court reviews the case. During this period, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would serve as interim president. The court would have 180 days to decide Yoon's fate.