South Korea Parliament to vote on impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol
Photo: Yoon Suk Yeol, President of South Korea (Getty Images)
South Korea’s National Assembly is set to consider a bill to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday, December 7. This vote will take place after his emotional decision to declare martial law, stated Cho Seung-rae, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, according to KBS.
According to him, the impeachment vote is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. local time on December 7. The bill has already been signed by 192 lawmakers, including Speaker of Parliament Kim Jin-pyo.
The bill was introduced to the Parliament shortly after midnight on December 5. As per the law, the vote must take place no sooner than 24 hours and no later than 72 hours after the initiative is approved by the relevant parliamentary committee. This means the vote must occur between 12:48 a.m. on December 6 and 12:48 a.m. on December 8.
For the bill to pass, it requires a two-thirds majority - at least 200 votes. Given that 192 opposition MPs have already signed the initiative, at least 8 additional votes from the ruling People Power Party are necessary.
Notably, KBS reports that the National Assembly has already supported impeachment measures against Choe Jae-hae, Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection; Lee Chang-soo, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and two prosecutors under his authority.
Martial law in South Korea
On December 3, President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in the country, because “anti-state forces” became more active in the country.
However, just hours later, the National Assembly mandated that Yoon lift the martial law. Thus, it lasted only six hours.
After that, a bill to impeach the president over his emotional decision was introduced in parliament. Read more about the developments in South Korea in the material by RBC-Ukraine.
