During the six hours of military emergency earlier this week, President Yoon sent the National Guard into the National Assembly building. The purpose was to have several opposition politicians and their own party leader arrested, according to the head of the country’s intelligence service. But Yoon was persuaded to take back the order. Since then, the opposition party, and also his party leader, have demanded that he be impeached. But to do this, they must have the support of two thirds of the National Assembly. PPP politician Ahn Cheol-soo was the only one present when the vote was to start. He had already expressed public support for the impeachment proposal. Photo: JEON HEON-KYUN / Reuters They only needed 8 votes from the leading People’s Power Party (PPP). But when the vote was to start, all but one politician in the PPP left the chamber. If the remainder does not go in again, it is impossible for the proposal to be voted on. On the night of Saturday Norwegian time, Yoon gave a short speech to the nation. There he bowed and apologized for causing concern. He promised that it would not happen again, but refused to leave. Several tens of thousands of people were in place outside the National Assembly. Photo: Ahn Young-joon / AP “Ignores the will of the people” The Speaker of the National Assembly was highly critical of the elected representatives who chose to leave the chamber, to cheers from the opposition party. – This ignores the will of the people, said the speaker. – This shows contempt for the people, and contempt for the National Assembly. As representatives, they must not do this. Speaker Woo Won-shik is strongly critical of the fact that most of the PPP chose to leave the room. Photo: JEON HEON-KYUN / AFP In the huge demonstration outside the building, a speaker read out the names of all the members of the PPP when the voting started. Park Chan-dae, the leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party, also read out the list of names and urged them to re-enter the chamber. – Go and vote, the crowd also shouted. Published 07.12.2024, at 10.15 Updated 07.12.2024, at 10.31
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