The political futures of President Yoon Suk Yeol AND South Korea hang in the balance, with the South Korean leader now facing a second impeachment motion vote over his martial law order.
Will President Yoon survive another week?
Let’s head over to the National Assembly where our Lee Shi-hoo is standing by.
Shi-hoo, how is it looking over there this morning?
Yes Dami, it’s been a quiet morning so far, but we’re now starting to feel the air of tension ramp up, as we near the hour for the second scheduled vote on the motion to impeach President Yoon Seok Yeol this afternoon at four o’clock.
The security is heavy here today, with no outside personnel allowed to enter the premises.
The people who are allowed to enter the reporters, lawmakers’ aides, and employees of the National Assembly are beginning to arrive at this main hall, to stand close by to witness what could be a landmark event in South Korea’s parliamentary history.
Now, it’s been 11 days since the declaration of martial law on the night of December 3rd, and exactly a week since the first opposition-led push for an impeachment motion against Yoon which failed to pass, not meeting the minimum number of votes required even to begin counting.
This time, the opposition took more time to “strengthen the reasonings for impeachment” as stated in the motion.
mainly the President’s “violation of his duty to safeguard the Constitution”, now with more allegations added based on the questionings and investigations that took place this past week.
The impeachment motion requires at least 200 approvals from the total 300 lawmakers.
The key question today is “will there be enough participation AND approvals from the ruling party members for the motion to pass?”
Right, and does the approval seem likely tonight?
And where do the rival parties currently stand?
Yes, so as with the last week, the main opposition Democratic Party along with other minor parties stand firm in their push for impeachment.
But as we saw last time, the 192 members of those opposition parties need extra support from at least eight ruling People Power Party lawmakers.
Last week, the ruling party decided as a consensus to opt out of voting, and just three members went against the collective decision to cast their ballots.
But this week, more ruling party members have spoken openly of their will to vote for impeachment.
The number stands at least seven as of this morning.
This is just one short of the eight needed from the PPP, for the motion to pass, that is, assuming full support from the opposition.
However, there are ongoing disputes within the party.
Its leader Han Dong-hoon and his close allies are in support of impeachment, but the new Floor Leader Kweon Seong-dong, known to be a close ally of Yoon, has said that as of yesterday, the party consensus is to turn down the impeachment.
But he did convene a party meeting this morning, so the lawmakers could have a “candid discussion” and decide on the final consensus together.
The meeting began a minute ago at 10 AM, so there are no words from the meeting just yet.
As for the DP, they will also hold a meeting later today in the afternoon, just thirty minutes before they go into the vote.
They’re expected to, once again, show their determination to pass the motion.
Dami.
Thank you that was our Lee Shi-hoo live from the National Assembly.
source : https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=279004
