South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol narrowly escaped impeachment after an intense standoff in parliament that followed his controversial attempt to impose martial law. Saturday’s proceedings, dominated by opposition forces, ended as only 195 votes were cast—short of the 200 required to pass the motion—after members from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the session.
The country’s main opposition, the Democratic Party, firmly committed to revisiting the impeachment initiative, while Yoon’s party expressed intent to find what it describes as a “more orderly, responsible” method to address the nation’s gravest political conundrum in decades.
President Yoon caused widespread alarm earlier this week by granting the military extensive emergency powers, purportedly to tackle “anti-state forces” and bypass political resistance. Although he rescinded the measure just six hours later, the decision has triggered a formidable political crisis, undermining South Korea’s international democratic standing.
With Asia’s fourth-largest economy at stake, the PPP faced criticism and public outrage, as only three party members aligned with the impeachment efforts. Yoon expressed regret to the public but stood his ground against resignation demands before the parliamentary vote.
