It’s the second impeachment vote in the space of a week, and so much has panned out and been uncovered during the past seven days.
Let’s recap the past week with our Bae Eun-ji.
Welcome.
Thanks for having me.
1. Eun-ji, let’s rewind to last Saturday when the first impeachment vote took place only to fail?
Right.. there have been overwhelming calls for President Yoon’s resignation or impeachment, as public outrage grows across the country.
But last Saturday, the opposition parties’ motion to impeach the president failed to get enough votes, after most of the ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote.
Most of them left the parliament before the vote, and only 195 votes were cast, below the threshold of 200, or two-thirds of the assembly needed for the vote to be valid.
So the impeachment vote was scrapped without ballot counting.
The opposition bloc holds 192 seats so at least eight votes were needed from President Yoon’s governing party for the impeachment motion to pass.
Announcing that a vote on the impeachment motion has not been established, National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik said it was “very unfortunate that there wasn’t even a vote.”
Take a listen.
“The entire nation is watching the decision being made here at the National Assembly today. The world is watching. It’s very regrettable that there wasn’t even a vote on such a major national issue.”
The main opposition Democratic Party has said it will not give up and has vowed to revive the impeachment motion every week.
So eyes are now on whether the ruling party members will cast their vote today, and if more than eight ruling party lawmakers will vote in favor,.. of impeaching the president.
2. President Yoon delivered an apology over his martial law order on day of the first impeachment vote.
And he delivered another public address on Thursday.
What was that about?
President Yoon had earlier apologized to South Koreans on Saturday, but this week, he made it clear that he has “no intention to resign,” saying that he will continue to “fight” the forces that threaten the future of South Korea.
He appeared to try to justify his judgment on December third,.. blaming the opposition party for repeatedly taking “unconstitutional measures” by abusing its powers.
He said he was only trying to protect the country’s constitutional order, by exercising the president’s powers within the framework of the constitution.
He also said he had no intention of shutting down the parliament, arguing that if he had intended to di so, he would have cut off power and water supplies and restricted broadcast transmissions.
3. Investigations into what exactly happened on the night of the martial law are in full swing.
And isn’t President Yoon being targeted as a key figure? Even as a ringleader?
That’s right. Investigations into insurrection charges are now closing in on the President, as the probes into key officials accused of enforcing martial law are picking up speed.
The police investigation team has said it’s not only seeking to summon the President for questioning, but is also looking into requesting an arrest warrant, as well as a search warrant for Yoon’s residence in central Seoul.
During a press briefing by the police special investigation team on Friday, an official said that they’re also considering requesting a warrant to seize the President’s communication records.
This comes after the police tried to raid the presidential office on Wednesday, but failed to get inside even with a search warrant, after security guards refused to cooperate.
After an hours-long stand-off at the gates, the investigators had to leave, and were able to receive only a limited number of documents, through voluntary submission.
Experts say that police will carry out a compulsory investigation into the President, as they have deemed Yoon as a suspect based on the evidence they’ve gathered so far in a rare investigation into a sitting president for insurrection charges.
President Yoon was placed under a travel ban earlier this week.
Meanwhile, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has been arrested, after being named as the “mastermind” behind last week’s failed imposition of martial law.
Then on Wednesday, Kim was found by guards as he attempted suicide inside a detention center in eastern Seoul.
His life is not currently in danger and prosecutors have been questioning him over his involvement in imposing the martial law on December 3rd.
4. The worst case scenario for President Yoon, for today, is being impeached.
Walk us through who is in line to fill potential presidential vacancy.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is supposed to serve as the country’s acting president in the event of the impeachment passing.
But Han was at the Cabinet meeting just before Yoon’s martial law declaration, and he has now been summoned for police questioning, along with other Cabinet members.
Some opposition party lawmakers have accused Han of being responsible for the martial law imposition.
Although members at the Cabinet meeting on the night of the martial law have said they were not able to stop Yoon’s sudden course of action,, criticism is inevitable since they were the last defenders who could’ve stopped the martial law declaration.
So, if Han is also impeached and is unable to serve as the acting president, next in line is the finance minister Choi Sang-mok, then the education minister Lee Ju-ho.
However, there are concerns that if the prime minister is also suspended from his duties, it could lead to greater instability in the country’s state affairs.
Eun-ji, thanks for the thorough wrap-up today.
Thank you.
source : https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=279013
