Prospects for South Korea’s President impeachment are dim with ruling party boycotting vote
The HinduMost ruling party lawmakers were boycotting a parliamentary vote Saturday to deny a two-thirds majority sought by the opposition to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived imposition of martial law, as protests grew nationwide calling for his removal. Mr. Yoon’s martial law declaration drew criticism from his own ruling conservative party, but it is also determined to oppose Mr. Yoon's impeachment apparently because it fears losing presidency to liberals. In his martial law announcement on Tuesday night, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” bogging down state affairs and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces.” The turmoil resulting from Mr. Yoon’s bizarre and poorly-thought-out stunt has paralyzed South Korean politics and sparked alarm among key diplomatic partners, including neighboring Japan and Seoul’s top ally the United States, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader. On Friday, PPP chair Han Dong-hun, who criticized Mr. Yoon's martial law declaration, said he had received intelligence that during the brief period of martial law Yoon ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities." Former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has been accused of recommending Mr. Yoon enforce martial law, has been placed under a travel ban and faces an investigation by prosecutors over rebellion charges.